The CBI on Friday registered a murder case in connection with the death of Namrata Damor, a student of Indore government medical college who was found dead near the railway tracks in Ujjain in January 2012 after her name figured in the Vyapam scam. The CBI also registered a preliminary enquiry to probe the death of Aaj Tak reporter Akshay Singh on July 5 after he had suddenly collapsed while talking to Damor’s father at the latter’s residence in Meghnagar. Following an uproar over his death, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had sought a CBI probe. “A case has been registered under Section 302 of IPC (murder) against unknown persons. Allegations pertain to the death of Namrata Damor under mysterious circumstances in January 2012 and allegations of it being linked to the Vyapam scam cases,” said a CBI spokesperson. A report dated January 9, 2012 of a post-mortem conducted on Damor at Ujjain district, states that she had a “homicidal” death caused by “violent asphyxia as a result of smothering”. Nail injuries were also found at three places on her face. The report was signed by a panel of three doctors Dr B B Purohit, Dr O P Gupta and Dr Anita Joshi. However, another report from a state forensic expert a few weeks later opined that the death could have been from injuries sustained during a fall from a moving train. The police had initially registered a murder case, but later called the death an “accident” and closed the case. The CBI had on Wednesday called for records from the Superintendents of Police of Ujjain, Kanker, Gwalior, Jhabua and from the Deputy Inspector General, Indore on the deaths of Damor, Vijay Patel, Rajendra Arya, Deepak Verma and Aaj Tak reporter Akshay Singh.
