Doctor who performed autopsy on Batcha resigns

Chennai, Mar 21: The doctor, who conducted autopsy on the body of former Telecom Minister A Raja's aide Sadiq Batcha, has resigned but said it has nothing to with the case as he plans to contest elections.

Though reports of his resignation came days after the death of Batcha on Wednesday last, Dr V Dekal said he had put in his papers in the first week of March as he had intended to contest the Apr 13 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

"I resigned because I wanted to contest the elections as an independent. This is in no way related to the case," he said.

Dr Dekal said he was yet to make up his mind to contest the polls since his relieving orders were yet to come. He said he had put in the papers after elections were announced. He planned to contest as an independent.

Batcha's body was found hanging at his house in South Chennai on last Wednesday.

After performing the autopsy, Dekal had said Batcha's death was due to asphyxia and his body showed compression of the neck with hanging mark.

"We cannot say now whether it was suicide or murder... the report would be available in two weeks," he had said.

He had said the death had been caused due to asphyxia though the cause of that cannot be confirmed till the forensic report was received.

38-year-old Batcha, who was the Managing Director of Greenhouse Promoters, a firm under the scanner of the CBI as well as the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the 2G spectrum scam, was found hanging in his house at Teynampet in South Chennai by his wife Rekha Banu and his driver.

His wife claimed that he took the step as he was "unable to cope with the pressure" of the probe.

Batcha, whose official and residential premises were raided by CBI and questioned at least four times in the last two months, had left a suicide note in which he had stated that he was "embarrassed" by the raids and the extensive media coverage of them.

PTI