Army Colonel died of heart attack: police

He had fallen unconscious on a bus, died later in hospital

Mysterious death: Colonel Samrendra Pratap’s post-mortem was conducted at Lok Nayak Hospital.

A day after an Army Colonel died under mysterious circumstances after he fell unconscious on a bus coming from Dwarka towards New Delhi, his post-mortem was conducted on Wednesday and the police claimed that he died of a heart attack.

Decorated with the Vishisht Seva Medal, Colonel Samrendra Pratap belonged to Bihar and was a resident of Delhi Cantonment. He was on a bus around 5 p.m. on Monday when he fell unconscious and was taken to Lok Nayak Hospital. He died at the hospital later at night.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Anto Alphonse said, “His body was handed over to the family around 12 p.m. after the post-mortem. The report will come after 15 days.”

Case report

An officer said prima facie Colonel Pratap died of a heart attack. The Medico Legal Case report prepared when he was admitted to the hospital stated “unknown poisoning and no external injury”. Sources said there was a peculiar smell emanating from his mouth when he was admitted to the hospital.

An officer said inquiry revealed that the last person to see him alive was his house help. “He asked his house help to drop him to a bus stand on his two-wheeler and leave.”

The reason why he was travelling on a bus is still being investigated, said the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central). The Colonel was admitted to the hospital on Monday as ‘unknown’ since he did not have any identity proof on his person though his wallet contained ₹15,500. His phone, which helped the family trace his location to the hospital, was later stolen from the premises and is yet to be traced.