Priest at crematorium catches murder, calls up cops - Crematorium.eu News about crematoria in Europe - www.crematorium.eu informs about crematoria in Europe- Krematorium.eu- crematorio.eu, find a crematorium

NEW DELHI: If not for the head priest at Dakshinpuri crematorium, the police may never have came to know that 27-year-old Sanjit Singh was murdered. Just when Singh's body was about to be put in an electric furnace at the crematorium, head priest Deepak Sharma noticed strangulations marks around his neck. He got suspicious and called up police.

"We got a call from Sharma on January 14 claiming Sanjit's family was trying to pass off a murder as a natural death. Police officers who reached the crematorium found deep marks on the deceased's neck. Prima facie it looked like a murder and we sent the body for postmortem even though the deceased's father, Sher Singh, his brother Rakesh and his sister claimed it was a natural death," said Rajinder Singh, SHO at Saket police station. "The report came on Saturday and on its basis we registered a case of murder."

Joint CP (southern range) Amulya Patnaik confirmed the police were now forming teams to investigate the murder. "We will question several people, including family members," said Patnaik.

Sources claimed the family had told Sharma that their youngest son Sanjit, a resident of F Block Pushp Vihar, was addicted to alcohol. He entered his room on the night of January 13 but was allegedly found dead on his bed next day. "The family told me they cleaned the body and came to the crematorium. It seemed odd they had neither called a doctor nor taken him to the hospital. The police too was not involved though I found distinct marks on his neck," said Sharma.

"The postmortem report establishes murder. We believe either it is an honour killing or it is related to property. We know Sanjit had recently taken to drinking and that his family had objected to the same. We are looking at all angles and are yet to establish a clear murder motive. We are also collecting finger prints of Sanjit's acquaintances," said a police officer.

The police said the deceased was working in a private company before he left the job. His father is a MCD employee while his brother works for a private security agency.