Why was the FIR not filed till 24th morning? What was the hurry to cremate the body? Where was the body found? Where were his identity card, purse and watch? Vasu asked the colonel. A stony silence was all he got in reply.
"My son was killed because he was about to expose the financial irregularities that were going on at Mathura on various purchases," says the distraught father. "So, he was drugged first and then cut into two pieces. That is why the body was cremated before any of us had a chance to see it."
The first Court of Inquiry headed by a lieutenant colonel and two majors found that Major Ravi Shankar died due to an accident when a goods train hit him on August 23, 2003 while crossing a railway track at Mathura station.
Vasu was not satisfied.
He wrote a letter addressed to then Chief of Army Staff General N C Vij on April 22, 2004 about his suspicions about his son's death. As there was no reply, he wrote again with 'a possible reconstruction of the case' on May 19, 2004.
"In the second letter, I also pointed out that I suspected the involvement of some bania (trader) in the death of my son," says Vasu. "My suspicion was strengthened after I read a report about the influence of banias in army purchases in a report in The Hindu," he adds.
He did not get a reply to the second letter either, and went to the press with his story in June 2004.
Finally, on July 20, General Vij wrote that he had 'ordered a second enquiry which will go to the root of the matter and bring out the truth.'
The second Court of Inquiry conducted in Chennai was a "farce", says Vasu.
"They ruled out any foul play and concluded that no one is to be blamed for my son's death as it was a case of suicide. So, an accident became a suicide after the second inquiry. They thought we family members would be embarrassed by the suicide angle and would shut our mouths," says the father.
Image: S Vasu is determined to find the truth about his son's death
Also see: Kargil's first hero
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