Father of domestic help, who allgedly committed suicide, accuses employer of foul play

'My daughter did not kill herself'

Father of domestic help, who allgedly committed suicide, accuses employer of foul play

Malti Devi and Rajender Singh parents of Prema Kumari in New Delhi on Thursday PICs/SUBHASH BAROLIA

The body of Prema Kumari, 19, has been lying at the Subzi Mandi mortuary for eight days now. The victim was working as a domestic help at Dr GK Vohra's residence in the Gagan Vihar area in east Delhi.

Family cries foul
The family members of the victim suspect foul play and have refused to allow a single doctor to conduct the post mortem of the body. They fear the girl's employer, a medical practitioner, may influence the post mortem report in his favour.

According to the police, on the afternoon of January 11, the doctor's family informed the police the maid had committed suicide inside their house.

However, when the family members of the girl arrived in the capital from Jharkhand, they alleged it was not a case of suicide. "Some weeks ago my daughter called me and said she was not being treated properly at the doctor's house. I told her to stay there for a few months and I would come to get her soon. Here, I came to know she has committed suicide.

I am sure there is some foul play behind her death. After she died, my daughter's employers did not inform me or the placement agency from where she had been hired. The agency received a phone call from the doctor's neighbour. The police have not registered a case. We have asked for the post mortem to be conducted by a panel of doctors to find the truth," said victim's father Rajender Singh.

'All lies'
However, the doctor's family denied the allegations. "The girl was like a daughter to us. We had hired her to take care of my ailing mother. She was a companion to my mother. It is absurd to think we could have done something to her. The girl was depressed because she said her mother had left her to work in the city. Now, her family is trying to frame us. They are lying. In fact, I called them up to inform about the poor girl's suicide," said Dr Vohra.

Cop action
Meanwhile, the police confirmed the maid's family is against the post mortem being conducted by one doctor.
"The post mortem will be done in a day or two by a board of doctors as the victim's family wants. Prima Facie it looks like a case of suicide. We are investigating the case. Some people pretending to support the victim's family are trying to blackmail the doctor's household. We are probing all angles," said a senior police official from the east district, wishing anonymity.

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