The family of a 53-year-old Delhi Police Assistant Sub Inspector has been denied ex-gratia of ₹1 crore by the Delhi government.
ASI Shesh Mani Pandey was posted in Crime Branch’s fingerprint bureau and passed away on May 30 after testing positive for COVID-19 on May 26.
In a letter dated October 7, accessed by The Hindu , it is stated that the case had been examined and “is not found covered under the Cabinet Decision No. 2835 dated 13.05.2020, as the deceased was performing his routine duty assigned to him and was not deployed for COVID-19 duty which is a mandatory condition to become eligible for grant of ex-gratia of ₹1 crore”.
Mr. Pandey’s case filed had been processed in April.
His son Krishna Kumar Pandey said that the family was shocked to hear about the denial on Saturday.
“We were informed by Delhi Police that our file has been rejected. We were shocked because we were heavily dependent on this money. Also, we were always assured by authorities that we would get this money,” he said.
“How can they say he was not on COVID-19 duty? He was a policeman… employees in rest of the country were asked to work from home but people in the force did not have that option. My father caught the virus after visiting a murder spot in Nabi Karim and the deceased was COVID-19 positive,” Krishna said, adding that he had asked his father to take leave from work.
“He said he would not be able to get leave. But added that he was in a government job and if something happened to him, the government would take care... though none of us had thought that anything will happen,” he added.
Commissioner of Police S.N. Shrivastava, after Mr. Pandey’s demise, had tweeted: “Delhi Police family mourns the loss of 2 brave police officers in our fight against Corona pandemic despite best efforts to save them. We pay homage to ASIs Vikram and Shesh Mani Pandey and may their souls rest in peace. We are committed to providing all help to their families [sic].”
Mr. Pandey was an ex-serviceman who retired as Naik Subedar in 2012 and joined Delhi Police in 2015. He was from Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa, and is survived by his wife and two sons. “My brother is pursuing engineering in Delhi. I, along with my mother, wife, son and grandparents live in Rewa. We had received about ₹25 lakh from Delhi Police and managed to repay our loans,” added Krishna.
