New Delhi: A former IAS officer arrested after a 46-year-old man died following a fight in the Delhi Metro has had trouble with the law in the past, according to police records. Sanjay Pratap Singh has been arrested at least three times earlier.
The incident happened on October 8. Pawan Sharma was travelling in the Metro with his mother, Durga, when an argument broke out over a seat reserved for senior citizens. In her complaint, Durga said Singh slapped her son. Singh’s son, Sidharth, then allegedly punched Pawan in the chest.
Pawan collapsed. He was taken to Lok Nayak Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Singh and his son were arrested the same day.
A case was registered on October 9 under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Police also added Section 3(5), which applies when more than one person acts with a common intention.
Singh, a 1984-batch officer of the AGMUT cadre, spent nearly three decades as a bureaucrat. He eventually rose to become Principal Secretary in the Delhi government’s Department for the Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minorities.
His name had made headlines before. In December 2015, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested him along with his personal assistant, Ramesh Kumar, in a bribery case. The agency said the two had taken Rs 2.2 lakh from a contractor whose firm supplied manpower to Singh’s department. The contractor alleged the money was demanded to clear his pending bills.
The CBI’s searches turned up more. According to reports published by The Indian Express at the time, agents found 31 gold bars weighing 3.20 kg in a bank locker linked to Singh. They also recovered cash, expensive watches and other assets.
The 2015 arrest was not the first. Sources told The Indian Express that Singh was arrested in 1991, when he was serving as Collector in Daman. He was arrested again in the capital several years later. Sources said both cases were related to corruption.
The details of these two older cases, and how they ended, could not be independently confirmed.
The allegations in this report are based on the complaint and police records. The accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
