SIT to probe Mohan Delkar’s death case

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced a probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the death of seven-time Dadar and Nagar Haveli MP Mohan Delkar.

On 22 February, Delkar (58), an Independent MP, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in a room of the Sea Green Hotel in Marine Drive in Mumbai.

The Mumbai Police has registered an accidental death report (ADR) and investigations are in progress.

Also read — Mystery over Mohan Delkar’s death deepens

Rattled by the fact that the probe into the planting of a Scorpio laden with gelatin sticks near the Mumbai house of India’s top businessman Mukesh Ambani has been taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has assured thorough investigations into the death of Delkar.

Making a statement in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said that an SIT would be set up to investigate the entire issue.

In the suicide note that had been recovered, Delkar has named Praful Khoda Patel, the Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, for allegedly harassing him and trying to finish off his political and social career.

Deshmukh informed that Delkar’s wife Kalaben Delkar and son Abhinav Delkar had requested him and the Maha Vikas Aghadi government for thorough investigations. “He was a seven-time MP and was being constantly harassed,” he said, adding that the state government would go deep into the case.

It may be recalled that at the start of the Budget Session, Thackeray had sought the help of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in case Mumbai Police needed to go to the Union Territory for investigations.

An advocate for tribal rights, Delkar began his career as a trade union leader in Silvassa. Later, he started Adivasi Vikas Sangathan for the tribals in 1985. He had represented the seat seven times – as an Independent in 1989, in 1991 and 1996 from the Congress, 1998 as a BJP candidate, 1999 as an Independent and in 2004 representing Bharatiya Navshakti Party, a political outfit floated by him.