In a suicide note, DU professor Alan Stanley and his mother accused the police in Kerala for harassing them and blamed a section of the media in the southern state for its "negative" reportage for their death, sources in the Delhi Police said on Monday.
The decapitated body of Stanley (27), who was an ad-hoc professor in Delhi University's (DU) St Stephen's College, was found on the railway tracks at Sarai Rohilla here on Saturday and his mother Lissy was found hanging from a ceiling fan, with her mouth stuffed with a piece of cloth, in their Pitampura flat.
Friends and colleagues of Stanley blamed "malicious" news reports published against the professor and his mother in the regional media in Kerala for the tragedy on Monday.
Lissy's post-mortem was conducted at the Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital here, while Stanley's post-mortem was carried out at the Sabzi Mandi mortuary. The funeral will take place on Tuesday.
Waiting to collect the body at the mortuary, the family members and friends of the deceased did not wish to speak to reporters and said they would issue a statement to the media after the funeral on Tuesday.
Police said, prima facie, both appeared to be cases of suicide, however, the post-mortem reports were awaited.
The mother-son duo was in depression because of an abetment-to-suicide case pending against them in Kerala and both were on anticipatory bail.
"In a four-page suicide note signed by both Stanley and his mother, the police in Kerala and a few other people have been accused of harassment in connection with the case. The regional media has also been blamed for sensational reporting on the case," a senior officer of the Delhi Police, who did not wish to be named, said.
The Delhi Police will get in touch with its counterpart in Kerala to get details of the complainants being probed by the District Crime Branch of Idukki against the mother-son duo.
The crime branch of Kerala Police is probing the abetment-to-suicide case registered against Stanley and his mother in Idukki district. The case was registered on September 17, TA Antony, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), District Crime Branch, Idukki, said.
The case was lodged by the son of Stanley's stepfather.
"He had alleged that Lissy forced her husband to transfer some cash to her account. Most of his liquid funds were transferred to her account. The stepfather became depressed and even consulted a psychiatrist," the DSP said.
The psychiatrist advised treatment and care for Lissy's husband Wilson, but she allegedly demanded a flat from him, forcing him to take his life, the officer added.
Wilson committed suicide by hanging himself.
"At that time, the police had investigated the case as one of unnatural death. Later, Wilson's family levelled allegations against Lissy, saying she had driven him to commit suicide. There are allegations that an amount of Rs 70 lakh was transferred to her account and that she is a nominee to her husband's deposits of Rs 2.25 crore," the DSP said.
A case was registered under sections 305 (abetment of suicide of child or insane person) and 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc.) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the mother-son duo, he added.
The case was registered by the Idukki district police in April and it probed the matter for over four months. Subsequently, Lissy approached the Kerala High Court alleging harassment and a delay in the investigation, following which the matter was transferred to the District Crime Branch, Idukki.
Principal of St Stephen's College John Varghese said the college will hold a condolence meeting for Stanley on Tuesday.
Blaming the regional media in Kerala for its "one-sided" reports, Stanley's friends said after such reports came out, things started getting difficult for the mother-son duo.
"They started getting phone calls and messages from people in Kerala and she (Lissy) had to narrate their side of the story to them.
"Without any evidence or hard facts, the reports compared the matter to the Koodathai serial murder case. They were one-sided and Alan's mother's version was not represented," the professor's friends said in a statement.
A few friends of Stanley stayed with them for a few days and tried to cheer them up. They took the mother and son out, consoled them and tried to calm them down.
"Alan and his mother were all alone in this struggle. Their relatives seemed to have isolated them. There is no one to tell their story," the statement read.
His friends claimed that in the suicide note, the deceased sought forgiveness and thanked them for their help.
The suicide note also requested the principal of St Stephen's College to look into the case and ensure that the accused and those who put them through this ordeal were jailed, Stanley's friends said.
They claimed that Lissy had also apologised to her elder son in the suicide note.
She repeatedly said she could not bear the humiliation any more, the friends claimed, adding that the newspaper reports and the name of a reporter were also mentioned in the suicide note.
"They had a lawyer and they were fighting the case fearlessly for the past six months," one of Stanley's friends said.
Close friends of the professor have launched a campaign on Facebook with a page and hashtag #AlanOppam to support them.
According to a friend of Stanley, who requested anonymity, "He had faced a lot of hardship. He lost his father when he was in the final year of college. Later, he ensured that his mother remarry, despite facing opposition from his elder brother who drifted away from them.
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