Mystery Surrounding The Death Of Lal Bahadur Shastri

Today, 11th January of 2016, is the 50th death anniversary of India’s second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Prime Minister Shastri died in Tashkent due to a 'heart attack' (so called) the day after signing the Tashkent Declaration (one day after ceasefire of 1965 Indo-Pak war). Though it was alleged that he died of a heart attack but the circumstances seemed extremely suspicious. Recently Shastri's family has also asked files related to his demise be declassified, just like Subhash Chandra Bose's.

Here, I don't want to jump to any conclusion directly. But many twists in the mystery behind his death have taken place since the night of 11th Jan, 1966 in Tashkent.

    1. Why there was negligence with regard to Shastri’s place of stay?

He put up in a far-off hotel that was about 15 km from the main city. There was no phone or call bell in his room. He had to walk up to the doctor’s room. Was isolation a part of any plan?

      2.      Where are the records of the first inquiry into his death?

The Raj Narain Inquiry apparently could not come up with any conclusions; however there are no records in the Parliament's library of this inquiry. Regardless of the conclusion, it does raise questions as to why the report is missing, suppressed or destroyed.

      3.      There was no post-mortem conducted. Or  was there?

There were dark blue spots and cut marks on the abdomen of his body after his death. Then, how the cut marks appeared if a post-mortem had not been conducted. If there was no post-mortem conducted, then why would these indications be there? And if it was, where are the reports?

      4.      Could it be poisoning?

His personal doctor, RN Chugh, had said that he was in perfect health and never had any heart issues in the past. A heart attack seemed highly unlikely. And since there were claims that there was no post-mortem conducted, then the puncture marks could be a result of poisoning. Basic medical sciences teach us enough to know what causes blue marks: poison or heart attack?

      5.      Why the cook was not available?

In Tashkent, for Shastri a cook named Chand Mohammad had been appointed to cook vegetarian food. But after his death when his family went to Tashkent and wanted to meet Chand Mohammad, Soviet authorities told them that he was not available.

      6.      What about the witnesses?


There were two witnesses the night Shastri died and they were scheduled to be in front of the parliamentary body in 1977. One was Dr RN Chugh, who was on his way to testify in front of the committee but was hit by a truck and died. 

The other was his servant Ram Nath who visited Shastri's home first and according to the family members he said, “Bahut din ka bojh tha, amma. Aaj sab bata denge (I have been carrying this burden too long. I will shed it today).” He too was hit by a car. His legs were crushed and had to be amputated. He lost his memory.

Coincidence! Right?

     7.   What of the CIA agent's word?

Gregory Douglas, a journalist, interviewed CIA agent Robert Crowley, who confirmed that the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri and even Dr. Homi Bhabha (father of Nuclear Science in India) was the work of the CIA. Shastri gave the green light for nuclear tests and the US seemed threatened by India emerging as a reformed state and also of Indo-Russian dominance in the region. The interview was published in a book called, "Conversations with the Crow”.

     8.     Was the Russian butler involved?

The butler was serving the then PM and was in fact arrested. He had easy access to Shastri and if in fact he was poisoned, the butler would certainly be a big suspect. But he was allowed to walk and the authorities maintained that Shastri died of cardiac arrest.

     9.    Why was Delhi Police asked to handle the retrieval of docs?

The Home Ministry referred the matter to Delhi Police and the National Archives for retrieving any documents or information based on the incident. Shastri's son said that it was "absurd and silly" how the death of a sitting PM was inspected by district level police instead of higher authorities.

    10.   What about the RTIs?

Anuj Dhar (author of CIA's Eye on South Asia) filed an RTI pertaining to the PM's death. But the PMO responded saying there was only one classified document which could not be declassified as it may disrupt foreign relations. One document! One document relating to the Death of a prime minister in a foreign country. Is it a joke or something?

A different response was given to one, Kuldip Nayar, "No such record related to the death of the former Prime Minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri is available in this district... Hence the requisite information pertaining to New Delhi district may please be treated as nil." 
 

Source

 If the government was to declassify documents on his death, his family and the Indian public may get some substantial evidence or information on how our second premier died. But alas!