The Times of India: Kochi: Friday, June 08, 2012.
The state police have failed to give a reply to a RTI query which sought information on the death of former IPS officer T P Sundara Rajan, who was instrumental in opening the treasure vaults of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.
Though the RTI application, filed by T Narasimha Murthy of Bangalore, was filed before the information officer of the state police department on July 20, 2011, the department failed to give any reply, forcing the petitioner to approach the State Information Commission demanding an explanation from the police department.
The Supreme Court had issued the directive to open the temple vaults based on a petition filed by Sundara Rajan, a former IPS officer and lawyer. He breathed his last on July 17, 2011, even while procedures for preparing an inventory of the assets were going on. He was also one of the seven members of the committee appointed by the court to oversee the opening of the vaults.
"I wanted some information on the death of Sundara Rajan as I suspect some foul play behind it. I want to know whether the state police have conducted a post-mortem on his body. If they have not, I wanted to know the reason. I am keen to know about the circumstances that led to his death because his move to protect the temple assets had resulted in him making many enemies and hostile reaction from many organisations," said Narasimha Murthy, who filed the RTI. A senior official at the Fort Police Station in Thiruvananthapuram said that Sundara Rajan died of cardiac arrest and the situation did not warrant the conduct of a post-mortem.
Advocate T K Ananthapadmanabhan, a relative of Sundara Rajan, also claimed it was a natural death. "He died at his residence from a cardiac arrest.
A post-mortem is conducted if the person has an unnatural death or if the relatives of the deceased demand one. In his case, he died of a cardiac arrest," he said.
.JPG)
.JPG)
