Harry that Potter where are you?

Mystery shrouds woman's death
Our Correspondent

Mr Surjit Singh Grewal, SP (Detective), said he had verified that the part of the fan from which the body was found suspended could actually take the load of the body. In fact, he said, he asked the DSP, Mr Sarabjit Singh, to hang on to the fan and later he himself did the same. "And I weigh 85 kg," he said. Besides, to rule out any foul play the police requested the Civil Hospital to set up a three-member board for the post-mortem. He said no written complaint had been received from the girl's side against the in-laws.

SAS Nagar, November 18'2003
The needle of suspicion in the death of Harjot Kaur, a 25-year-old married woman, turned in different directions here today. The police continued investigations even as a post-mortem was performed by a board of doctors at the Civil Hospital here.

The body was cremated today.

The body of Harjot Kaur, who was married to Mr Ajwinder Pal Singh, who is doing MDS from Bangalore, was found hanging from a fan in a bathroom in her in-law's house in Phase IIIB2 here last morning. The couple had come to attend the wedding of Mr Ajwinder Pal Singh's brother.

Mr Ajwinder Pal Singh, who was sitting in a car with a crepe bandage on his right foot in the Civil Hospital, where the post-mortem was being performed, kept silent when mediapersons tried to question him. Harjot's father-in-laws, Mr D.P.S. Sandhu, who was also at the hospital, said it was a happily married couple and had planned to go to the USA. He gave no details about the circumstances relating to the death.

A board of three doctors — Dr G.S. Bedi, who headed the board, Dr Jai Singh and Dr S. Suri — was constituted at the request of the police to conduct the post-mortem. Such a board is usually not set up in cases of suicide.

The post-mortem examination was exhaustive and went on for more than two hours. The viscera had been sent to Patiala for chemical examination.

It is learnt that the death probably took place 24 hours before the post-mortem. A mark due to hanging was reportedly observed on the neck of the deceased.

A maternal uncle of Harjot, Mr Anmol Rattan Sidhu, president of the Punjab and Haryana Bar Association, said today that he was told by Mr Ajwinder Pal Singh that he and Harjot had come late to Mohali after the function. Ajwinder went to sleep. When he got up in the morning, he found that the door of the bathroom was locked and Harjot was not in the room. He thought that his wife was having a bath and came downstairs.

Mr Sidhu said Ajwinder also told him that when Harjot did not come downstairs for a long time, he went to the bathroom and broke open the door. He found the body of Harjot hanging from the fan by a dupatta.

Mr Sidhu said it was a "love but also arranged" marriage. About Rs 35 lakh was spent on the wedding. Harjot's father was a prominent lawyer and her grandfather was a former MLA.

It is learnt that members of the family of Harjot, including her mother, living in Sector 18, Chandigarh, were told about the death around 11 am. The police was reported to have been informed about the death around 3 pm.

Certain questions arose during the investigation. First, could the part of the fan from which the dupatta was hanging take the load of the body (more than 50 kg)? Second, why was the police informed about the death late?