The Hindu : New Delhi News : BJP MLA, a candidate, ‘commits suicide’

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Monday, Nov 17, 2008
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New Delhi

BJP MLA, a candidate, ‘commits suicide’

Staff Reporter

Puran Chand Yogi was candidate from Rajendra Nagar
He was found hanging from ceiling at his residence

Photo R V Moorthy

The crowd that gathered outside the residence of Puran Chand Yogi MLA who alleged ‘commited suicide’ at Inderpuri in New Delhi on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: Puran Chand Yogi, the three-time Bharatiya Janata Party MLA contesting from Rajendra Nagar in the Delhi Assembly elections, allegedly hanged himself in his Inderpuri house under mysterious circumstances on Sunday. Although no note was found, the police said prima facie it appeared to be a case of suicide.

Mr. Yogi, who lived with his wife Asha on the ground floor, woke up around 5-30 a.m., like any other day, and talked to some leaders and party workers on his mobile phone about the plan for the day. After taking a bath, Mr. Yogi asked his wife to get him the key to the first-floor room where the party’s propaganda material, such as audio and video compact discs and pamphlets, was stocked.

Around 6-45 a.m., Mr. Yogi went to the first floor leaving his mobile phone behind. When he did not return for a long time, his wife went to the first floor to give him his mobile phone that was ringing constantly.

“She saw her husband hanging from the ceiling with a ‘chunni’. She called up a doctor, G.K. Bhogal, living in the vicinity. He tried to revive him, but he had died by then,” said a senior police officer, adding that initially the family members were reluctant to reveal the facts of the case.

The post-mortem was conducted at Safdarjung Hospital, following which the body was handed over to his family. His son Rajeev, who works with a software firm in neighbouring Gurgaon, and his daughter Anu, who lives in Noida, reached Inderpuri soon after being informed about the tragic incident. His mortal remains were consigned to flames in the afternoon in the presence of his relatives, party workers and senior leaders.

BJP Pusa Mandal president Lala Ram, whose wife Vidya Devi is Municipal Councillor from the Pandav Nagar ward, said: “I talked to Mr. Yogi late on Saturday evening to discuss about the ‘padyatra’ to be taken out from my house at 8 a.m. on Sunday. I again called him up in the morning to re-check the schedule and he said he would be on time.”

Ms. Devi said she called up at 7-40 a.m. but Mr. Yogi did not pick up the mobile phone. The party works who tried to contact the BJP leader initially learnt that he had fallen ill, but when they reached his house, they found that he had died. Some party workers, gathered at Safdarjung Hospital, said that Mr. Yogi was a heart patient. The police are awaiting the post-mortem report that will ascertain the exact cause of death. “We are trying to find what led him to take the extreme step,” said the police officer.

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