Click to play videoNew Delhi: Ashutosh Asthana, the prime accused in the multi-crore provident fund scam, was found dead in a Ghaziabad jail under mysterious circumstances on Saturday evening.
He was found unconscious at the Dasna District Jail where he had been lodged.
Asthana's death is a tragic setback to a murky scandal that was under investigation.
The Naib Tahsildar, Vinay Pandey said, "At 2:45 pm we got information about the death. A team of doctors will conduct postmortem and it will be video graphed."
While authorities said he died of a heart attack, the doctor who examined his body said that he'd possibly consumed poison.
The doctor at MMG Hospital Ghaziabad, Dr. A K Singh said, "Initial inspection shows consumption of poison as cause of death. But whether it was administered to him or he consumed it himself, will be known only after postmortem."
Asthana's family alleges that he'd been complaining of threat to his life in prison.
"He had asked me to help him move to a separate barack. He had told me that people threaten to kill him when he goes with them in the van from jail to court. He was alright last evening when I met him. He had even asked me to bring him new clothes," said Asthana's brother.
Asthana who was treasury officer at the Ghaziabad court was arrested in April 2008 for siphoning off the provident funds of class three and class four employees.
- During his interrogation, Asthana had named 36 judges who he claimed were beneficiaries of the scam.
- The CBI found in its investigations that the money was used to purchase expensive gifts for judges.
- It then questioned one Supreme Court judge and three Allahabad High Court judges in connection with the scam.
Asthana's brother Shishir Asthana said, "He has been murdered. All judges who were accused are involved in this. I don't trust people in Ghaziabad. I want his postmortem to be conducted in another state."
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.