Congress gives Rs 5.10 lakh to family of journalist who committed suicide at AIIMS

The Delhi Congress on Saturday handed over a draft of Rs 5.10 lakh to the family of a journalist who allegedly jumped to his death from the fourth floor of AIIMS Trauma Centre, where he was undergoing treatment for COVID-19.

The journalist, Tarun Sisodia (37), worked for a Hindi daily. He allegedly committed suicide on Monday.

Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar handed over the draft of Rs 5.10 lakh to Sisodia's wife.

He said the Delhi government should treat journalists like Sisodia as corona warriors. It should give his family adequate compensation and ensure that the education of his two young daughters is taken care of.

The Congress leader also demanded a judicial probe into the journalist's death.

"A judicial inquiry should be conducted to find out the truth behind Sisodia's suicide," Kumar said.

"If there was nothing to suspect in Sisodia's suicide, why was the medical superintendent of the AIIMS Trauma Centre, Dr Amit Lathwal, removed? This leads to the premise that there was reason to doubt Sisodia's death by suicide," he said.

He claimed that Sisodia's wife has also said that the journalist had no reason to take his own life, and the family suspected "foul play".

Following the incident, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had asked the AIIMS director to set up a committee to probe the matter.

The Trauma Centre superintendent was removed after the four-member committee submitted its report.