GURGAON: Haryana DGP Ajay Singhal on Monday acknowledged that there were certain lapses in the handling of the body of Delhi-based real estate professional Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, whose alleged murder has led to questions over the police investigation and cremation of the unidentified body.“There is a proper SOP that if you find a dead body, we cannot keep it for more than three days. We thus followed the SOP and cremated it. There were certain lapses and the court has taken cognisance. We will look into those and issue appropriate directions or make amendments if required,” Singhal told reporters during his visit to Gurgaon for the inauguration of the new building of the Sector 17/18 police station.The DGP’s statement comes days after a Delhi court questioned Gurgaon Police over the sequence of events following the recovery of the unidentified body and sought explanations regarding its identification, documentation and cremation.A court hearing had earlier raised questions over the delay in uploading details of the recovered body on ZIPNET, the police network used for sharing information about missing persons and unidentified bodies. The court also questioned why the nearest executive magistrate or sub-divisional magistrate was not informed for inquest proceedings after the body was recovered.The court further questioned the circumstances in which the body was cremated along with belongings recovered from it. It also flagged issues relating to postmortem documentation, including the absence of videography and differences between two postmortem reports placed before it.The matter relates to the recovery of a decomposed body from a drain in the Badshahpur area of Gurgaon on September 10. The body was subsequently identified as that of 31-year-old Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, a Delhi resident who had travelled to Gurgaon on September 6 after telling his family that he had a meeting.Manchanda’s family had earlier alleged that they were not informed about the recovery of the body before it was cremated. According to earlier TOI reporting, the family learnt on September 16 that the body had been recovered six days earlier and cremated on September 14. The family had also raised questions about the timing of the ZIPNET entry.The court however sought preservation and production of records relating to the recovery, identification and cremation of the unidentified body, including police records, forensic and medical material, DNA records, photographs, videos, ZIPNET records and cremation documents.In another hearing, the court found the police response to its earlier directions inadequate and asked Gurgaon Police to submit a fresh, para-wise report addressing the points raised by the court, including records concerning the unidentified body, its identification and cremation, ZIPNET entries and CCTV footage.The handling of the body had become a major point of contention between Manchanda’s family and Gurgaon Police. Police had earlier maintained that prescribed procedures were followed and said details of the unidentified body had been uploaded on the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS). Police also said an unidentified-body proforma had been completed during the postmortem.An assistant sub-inspector posted at Badshahpur police station was also suspended following an internal review over alleged negligence in the investigation, particularly concerning the handling of Manchanda’s body after its recovery.According to police, Manchanda’s autopsy report recorded drowning as the cause of death. Delhi Police, meanwhile, have been investigating the alleged murder and arrested former colleague Anya Vats and her partner Sanyam Sachdeva in connection with the case. It was alleged that Anya had shot dead the victim but his autopsy report didn’t find any bullet injury.
