Rajkot: The joint director general of foreign trade (DGFT), Jawri Mal Bishnoi, who was caught by CBI for bribery on Friday, committed suicide Saturday.
He jumped from his fourth floor office to end life the CBI search was on.
Bishnoi (47), an Indian Trade Service (ITS) officer, suddenly rushed towards the window and took the plunge at around 9:45am when the CBI team was conducting a search operation. CBI officials have been searching his office and residence near Raiya Crossroads since Friday.
Bishnoi, a native of Bikaner in Rajasthan, was transferred to Rajkot about nine months ago. He was rushed to the civil hospital where doctors declared him dead at around 10:30am.
A case of accidental death was registered with Pradhyuman Nagar police station.
Deputy commissioner of police (zone-2) Sudhirkumar Desai, said, “The inquest of the body was done in the presence of the executive magistrate. We will collect all the technical evidence and other details regarding the incident.”
DGFT, which works under the union commerce ministry, is responsible for implementing the country’s foreign trade policy.
Bishnoi is survived by his wife and two children. His family members refused to accept the body and demanded that an offence be lodged against CBI officials. Police said some family members also had an altercation with the CBI officials in the civil hospital campus and some of them even tried to attack them.
The CBI officials were taken to the police chowky and given protection. Later, they were taken to the Pradyman Nagar police station for recording their statements.
The person who tried to attack CBI officials identified himself as Jagdish and a resident of Bharuch, “We were informed by CBI at around 6pm on Friday that he was detained, but we did not know his whereabouts for the entire night.”
Bishnoi’s brother Sanjay said, “I demand that all the officials who started investigation against my brother be booked under for murder. We hail from a farming family and there is a conspiracy against us.”
Without elaborating, Sanjay alleged that a fair investigation into his brother’s death would reveal names of some influential people. He also urged Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot to intervene.
In a statement, the CBI had said on Friday that Bishnoi had allegedly demanded Rs nine lakh to issue a no-objection certificate to an exporter.
