Punjab HC orders second post-mortem of Salman Khan firing case suspect Anuj Thapan

Anuj Kumar Thapan

The second post-mortem of Anuj Thapan - a suspect in the Salman Khan firing case who died in police custody - was conducted on Thursday at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College in Faridkot, Punjab, as per the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued on Wednesday. Thapan's family had filed a petition before the court, expressing suspicion of foul play in his death and stating their lack of trust in the post-mortem conducted at J J hospital in Mumbai.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court refrained from commenting on the merit of the case but granted permission for the second post-mortem solely to provide satisfaction to the deceased's mother, who approached the court.

Thapan allegedly died by hanging in the custody of the Mumbai Crime Branch on May 1. The post-mortem report confirmed the cause of death as hanging, with clear ligature marks. Initially, the family, upon arriving in Mumbai, refused to claim the body and later demanded a CBI probe. Subsequently, they transported Thapan's body to Punjab and staged protests with it, calling for a second
post-mortem.

"The court has granted permission for the post-mortem and we are confident that the truth will emerge. We firmly believe that he did not die by suicide but instead was tortured and killed. We await the post-mortem report," said Kuldeep Bishnoi, Thapan's uncle. "We kept the body preserved and alerted the court about the risk of decomposition. The court heeded our request and ordered a fresh post-mortem," he explained. The Punjab government initially opposed the petition, arguing that there were no grounds to conduct a fresh post-mortem.

However, they later withdrew their opposition to ensure the family's satisfaction. Thapan's mother, Reeta Devi, approached the court, expressing suspicion of foul play in her son's death inside the Mumbai Crime Branch lockup.

The court ordered the fresh post-mortem, noting the mother's apprehension and the state's lack of objection, without commenting on the merits of the case. Thapan was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch last month in connection with the firing outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan's residence. It was alleged that Thapan was a close associate of Lawrence Bishnoi and had provided weapons to the shooters who fired outside Khan's residence.