Was Vyapam Scam Kingpin Dr Sagar Behind Namrata Damor ‘Murder’?
- Dr Jagdish Sagar, Vyapam scam kingpin, who has ties with the state BJP leadership, may have been behind Namrata Damor’s alleged murder
- Anand Rai, whistleblower in the Vyapam scam has alleged that II Yr medical student Namrata Damor was being exploited by Dr Sagar
- Dr Jagdish Sagar is an accused in the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (Vyapam) Scam
- Autopsy report clearly suggested Namrata Damor was a case of ‘homicidal death’
- Second opinion on Namrata’s autopsy report was sought from Dr Badkur who termed it a case of suicide; incidentally Dr Badkur had declared Shehla Masood’s death to be suicide in 2011
Over three years after Namrata Damor’s body was found along railway tracks in Ujjain, it is emerging that a Vyapam scam kingpin with deep links to the state BJP leadership, the bureaucracy and the police may have ordered the hit on the second-year medical student who hailed from Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh.
Dr Jagdish Sagar, one of the kingpins of the multi-crore scam that has singed many in the state, including Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and a host of state BJP functionaries, is suspected to have sexually exploited Namrata because she was unable to cough up the entire bribe amount for fraudulently “securing” admission to Indore’s MGM Medical College through the 2010 pre-medical test.
Namrata, a second-year medical student, was often seen in the company of Dr Sagar, a wealthy Indore resident who worked out in gyms, had a weakness for gold jewellery and sped around town in his Mercedes cars. Anand Rai, one of the whistleblowers in the Vyapam scam too has alleged that Namrata was “exploited” by Sagar, a graduate from MGM Medical College who specialised in community medicine.
Namrata’s name surfaced in the Vyapam scam in 2014, when it was discovered that she had used unfair means to secure admission and had paid a hefty bribe to Dr Sagar. But much before that, in 2012, her body, with several injuries, was found by the railway tracks at Maksi in Ujjain district.
Homicidal Death
What now lends credence to the theory that foul play was involved in Namrata’s death is the autopsy report which is in the possession of The Quint. In the opinion of the three doctors who performed the post-mortem on January 9, 2012, Namrata “died due to asphyxia (violent asphyxia)…as a result of smothering” and that the “findings (are) suggestive of homicidal (illegible).”
Noticing in the course of the autopsy that sexual intercourse may have taken place, the doctors wrote: “Vaginal smear slides prepared, sealed and handed over to police for histological examination to rule out any sexual intercourse prior to death.”
The police did file a murder case but after obtaining a second opinion from the government-run Medico-Legal Institute headed by Dr BS Badkur, converted it into one of suicide. Against all established principles of medico-legal jurisprudence, Dr Badkur gave his opinion merely by examining photographs of Namrata’s body. At the time, he opined that the injuries on her body were consistent with a fall from a train.
Incidentally, Dr Badkur is the very forensics surgeon who had termed the death of Madhya Pradesh RTI activist Shehla Masood as suicide in 2011.
Were Injuries Ante-mortem?
Dr BB Purohit, the lead doctor from among the three who prepared Namrata’s autopsy report, did not take several phone calls The Quint made to him between July 8 and 9.
But the second doctor on the team, Dr OP Gupta, confirmed the autopsy’s findings -
We have mentioned everything quite clearly in our report. We suspected there was sexual intercourse and therefore extracted vaginal swab to detect the presence of semen.
— Dr OP Gupta
Dr Gupta, however, could not recollect whether the injuries on Namrata’s body were ante-mortem or post-mortem.
Police sources in Indore revealed that Namrata left her hostel in Indore on January 7 once her second-year MBBS results were declared. Since she could not be reached over phone, her brother Omprakash reached Indore from Meghnagar in Jhabua district where Namrata’s parents lived to check her whereabouts. Unable to locate her, Omprakash filed a missing person’s report with the police on January 12.
On January 7, the police found her body at Maski. All that was supposedly found on the body was a train ticket (purchased on January 7) for the Indore-Bilaspur Express. No other identification document was found.
Namrata Damor’s Death and Cover-up
- Former Madhya Pradesh DGP tells The Quint, police might have deliberately pursued suicide theory
- Namrata’s colleague Vishal let off after cursory investigation, his name is among those who secured admission by unfair means
- Namrata Damor’s brother refuses to admit that a bribe was paid to Dr Sagar
No Investigation
Suprisingly, the police reported Namrata’s death as suicide even while the autopsy had clearly stated that it was homicide, indicating to the police that they should pursue a murder case.
That the police did not act in line with the autopsy’s finding suggests that no investigation was done, which throws up disturbing questions that the police might have deliberately pursued the suicide theory to cover up Namrata’s death.
- A Former Madhya Pradesh DGP to The Quint
Once semen stains were found during the autopsy on Namrata’s body, four men, including her college mate, Vishal Verma, were subjected to DNA analysis to match their samples with the ones on Namarta. While Vishal’s sample allegedly matched, he was questioned cursorily and let off. Incidentally, along with Namrata, Vishal’s name had appeared in the list of MBBS candidates who secured admission by unfair means.
With the police not making any attempt to pursue the murder angle, there is nothing to indicate why Namrata had to die. Did she know too much about the scamsters and their links to certain political personalities and senior bureaucrats and police officers? Had she planned to share those details with the Vyapam scam investigators?
Namrata’s Brother Speaks
Speaking to The Quint over phone, Namrata’s brother Omprakash denies that any ticket was recovered from the spot where her body was found. “Her mobile and purse are still missing,” Omprakash said, adding that only Rs 30 was found in a pocket of the jacket that she was wearing.
Omprakash asserts that his sister’s death was “a murder” and that “there are political reasons behind its suppression” by the police.
After Namrata’s death, I kept receiving calls from Hoshangabad MLA Sitasharan Sharma whose nephew Yash Dhisawal knew my sister. Yash was initially arrested but later let off by the police.
— Omprakash Damor, Namrata’s Brother.
Omprakash still insists that neither his family nor his sister had bribed Dr Sagar to get admission.
The police, sources said, made no inquiries with Sharma to find out why he was so interested in dissuading Omprakash from pursuing the mysterious death of his sister. Phone calls by The Quint to Sharma went unanswered.
What Happened to Dr Sagar?
As for the case against Vyapam scam kingpin, Dr Sagar, while it steered clear of his alleged association with Namrata or Vishal, it exposed in detail the racket he ran along with the help of government employees that conduct the pre-medical test.
His arrest in July 2013, following the filing of the first FIR in the scam in Indore in October 2012, blew the lid off the massive scale and magnitude of the fraud, cheating and bribery.
Just 12 days before the PMT-2013 counselling was to begin, the police seized a list of 317 pre-medical test candidates who Dr Sagar had targeted. He was among 28 scam kingpins chargesheeted by the state Special Task Force in October 2014 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Arms Act and the Excise Act.
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