No foul play in Rinpoche’s death: Negi

Chief Secretary Ramesh NegiITANAGAR: Laying to rest the controversy over the death of Rev T G Rinpoche, the Arunachal Pradesh government today made it clear that there was no foul play in his death and appealed to the people of Tawang and Bombdila districts to cooperate with the district administration in maintaining peace.

“As per preliminary investigation report of the Delhi Police and post mortem report of the AIIMS available with the state government, there is no foul play in his death and it is a simple case of hanging,” Chief Secretary Ramesh Negi told media persons here.

Rinpoche was found hanging in his room in Delhi on May 16 and his post mortem was conducted the next day at AIIMS.

Negi said as per the post mortem report no foul play was found to have been committed and doctors were in no doubt in ascertaining the exact cause of death.

“Delhi police is verifying the final details in connection with the incident at this stage and they assured to furnish the final outcome of their investigation as and when it is concluded,” he said.

“We appeal to the people of Tawang and Bomdila districts to maintain peace and tranquility and to cooperate with the district administration,” he added.

The Chief Secretary said the state government had constituted a committee headed by DGP to obtain the post mortem report and other related documents from Delhi Police to ascertain the cause of death so that misunderstandings were cleared.

The mysterious death had sparked strong protest and violence erupted at Upper Gompa in Bomdila in which the vehicles of three MLAs from Tawang were damaged in a mob attack when the trio had gone there to participate in the last rites of Rinpoche on May 27.

The irate mob suspected foul play in the mysterious death of Rinpoche and blamed the MLAs for his death.

Immediately after the incident, the state government had constituted a high-level committee to conduct enquiry into attack on the MLAs and asked the committee to submit its report within 15 days, which is yet to be done.

The district administration has brought the situation to normal and arrested six persons involved, the Chief Secretary said.–PTI