Journalist’s viscera samples to be tested at AIIMS

Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan accepted a plea by the family and employers of deceased Aaj Tak journalist Akshay Singh that samples of his viscera be examined outside Madhya Pradesh. The samples will be tested at AIIMS in New Delhi.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan late on Sunday evening accepted a plea by the family and employers of deceased Aaj Tak journalist Akshay Singh that samples of his viscera be examined outside Madhya Pradesh, saying it was necessary for a “fair and independent inquiry.”

“The government has decided to get the viscera samples tested at AIIMS in Delhi as well as at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory,” state DGP Surendra Singh said.

Singh, 38, who was reporting on the Vyapam scam, collapsed and died in Jhabua on Saturday while interviewing family members of a medical student whose death in 2013 is also shrouded in mystery.

Earlier, in a letter to Chouhan, the journalist’s sister Pakshi Singh said: “As you know, he (Akshay) died in mysterious circumstances. I request you to get examined his viscera outside Madhya Pradesh, preferably at AIIMS Delhi, for free and fair investigation.”

Singh’s employers, the India Today Group had made a similar demand. “This would assuage the family, friends and well wishers of Akshay who seek some closure,” the group said in a statement.

Singh — was interviewing the parents of Namrata Damor, an accused in the Vyapam scam whose body was found under near railway tracks in Ujjain district in 2012 — when he collapsed and died. The Congress says that the death of nearly 40 people linked to the scam — that’s being probed by a special task force (STF) under the supervision of a court-monitored special investigation team — is part of a conspiracy to eliminate crucial witnesses.