New Delhi:
After Rajasthan farmer Gajendra Singh hanged himself in front of thousands at an Aam Aadmi Party rally in Delhi on Wednesday, investigations are centred on whether it was a suicide or accident.
"I have asked for time-bound investigations," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in Parliament, shortly after meeting Delhi Police Chief BS Bassi. Mr Singh also briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the case.
A police team is at the farmer's village in Dausa district of Rajasthan, where large crowds gathered for his funeral this morning.
Villagers flocked to his house, a modest two-storey structure with a satellite dish. Gajendra had a motorbike and three buffaloes. He owned 17 bighas, or around seven acres of land, full of guava and aamla (gooseberry) trees. His wheat and mustard crops had been damaged by recent unseasonal rain.
The family had suffered losses, but had enough to survive, said Gajendra's uncle Rajendra Singh.
Gajendra's cousin has been quoted as saying that he was only "pretending," that he never meant to commit suicide.
He had reportedly told an aunt who lives in Delhi, that he would come to her house after the rally to have dinner.
"He even called up his younger brother Vijendra Singh on his cellphone to say he was on TV," said a villager.
Not long after speaking to his brother, the cheerful man seen by many as an attention-seeker, climbed a tree, tied a noose out of his scarf, slipped it around his neck and died. Some reports say he may have slipped off the branch where he was balanced precariously.
The police are examining footage to see whether anyone had incited Gajendra. They have also asked to see his call records.
Senior police officers have told NDTV that a case may be registered against the organisers of the rally, who will also be questioned.
Sources say AAP had been told that Jantar Mantar, which is a km away from Parliament, was too small for their rally and they should move it to the sprawling Ramlila Ground.
The gathering was larger than the AAP's estimates, an official said.