Eyewitness accounts contradicted the police claim that Constable Subhash Chand Tomar died of injuries after being targeted by protesters on Sunday, though the hastily released parts of the post-mortem report by the Delhi Police said Tomar died of “heart-attack and its complications that could be precipitated by multiple ante-mortem (pre-death) injuries to neck and chest produced by blunt force impact.”
According to the police, the post-mortem report has revealed that Tomar had fractured his third, fourth and fifth ribs on the left side and there was mid-calibaculur bleeding at multiple places. “The multiple injuries worsened his condition which caused the heart attack,” said Additional Commissioner of Police K.C. Dwivedi.
But Lohia Hospital Medical Superintendant P.S. Sidhu said the policeman had no major external injuries except for some bruises when he was brought to the hospital.
“He was in serious shock. We revived him and shifted him to the Intensive Care Unit where he was on ventilator,” said Dr. Sidhu, adding that there were no serious internal injuries recorded during the treatment.
The constable who suffered a cardiac arrest was declared dead at 6.40 a.m. on Tuesday.
Journalism student Yogendra from Yamuna Vihar said he was at India Gate on Sunday when he saw some policemen, including Tomar, running after the fleeing protesters. “He suddenly collapsed. I did not see anyone assaulting him…there was not much crowd then,” he said.
Another eyewitness named Paoline said she saw Tomar collapsing on the road on his own. The constable’s family, however, denied that he had any history of heart ailment.
