Gurgaon: An assistant sub-inspector posted at Badshapur police station has been suspended for alleged negligence in the investigation into the murder of a 31-year-old project manager at Adani Realty, Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, sources said on Saturday, even as police were yet to issue an official statement on the matter.“ASI Sahun Khan, who was the investigation officer in the case, was suspended following an internal review of the probe. The action was linked to alleged lapses in the investigation, particularly in the handling of Manchanda’s body after it was recovered from a drain near Badshapur on Sept 10,” sources told TOI. His body was found four days after he was allegedly killed by a former colleague and her partner.Deputy commissioner of police (Gurgaon South) and station house officer of Badshapur police station were not available for comment.The handling of the body had emerged as a point of contention between Manchanda’s family and Gurgaon police. The family alleged that his photograph was not uploaded on Zipnet (zonal integrated police network), a police portal for missing persons and unidentified bodies, immediately after the body was recovered. According to them, the entry states that the body was found on Sept 10, cremated on Sept 14 and its details uploaded on Sept 16, two days after the cremation.After filing a missing-person complaint in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar police station, Manchanda’s family and friends kept searching for him. His sister Karishma and friend Sahil checked Zipnet regularly, the family said. On Sept 16, they went to Badshapur police station, where they saw his photograph and were told that his body had been recovered six days earlier and cremated on Sept 14.Gurgaon police on Friday had denied the allegation of lapses, saying all prescribed procedures were followed. A senior officer said police checked Zipnet on Sept 10 but found no corresponding entry, and it was not practical for investigators to keep checking the system every few hours. Zipnet, he added, is not the principal pan-India database for unidentified bodies.“The details were uploaded on Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) as part of the prescribed process,” he said. Police said the upload was done on Sept 11, within the mandated period, and that the unidentified body proforma, IIF-10, was completed during the postmortem.Police also said they had not received any formal communication from Delhi Police identifying Manchanda as a missing person before the cremation. According to the officer, a passerby alerted the police control room on Sept 10, following which a forensic team examined the scene. Photographs and details of the body were circulated among police officers and stations through official communication groups. “Had someone gone missing in Gurgaon, it would have been identified,” the officer said.Manchanda’s autopsy report recorded drowning as the cause of death. Police said there were no bullet injuries on his body, rejecting claims that he had been shot. The body was decomposed when recovered and appeared to have remained in water for several days, making its handling difficult, police said.The family had also alleged that they have not received Manchanda’s remains or belongings. They said police told them his clothes had been disposed of and gave no clear response about the ashes. Police disputed this, saying the ashes and belongings in its possession had been preserved and the family informed. DNA samples were also preserved, police said.Manchanda, a Delhi resident, travelled to the city on Sept 6 after telling his family he had a meeting and expected to return by around 10pm. Police said he later met his former colleague Anya Vats and her partner, Sanyam Sachdeva. An argument allegedly broke out inside a car, during which he was killed, police said.The couple allegedly dumped his body in a drain near their residence before leaving for Uttarakhand. Vats and Sachdeva were later arrested. “The investigation in the case is being conducted by Delhi Police and we know nothing about the arrested suspects in the case,” a police officer said.
