Purnea, Nov. 6: Police have ordered a court of inquiry into the death of constable Ajay Kumar Singh with his family charging the cops with passing off the “murder” as suicide on the basis of circumstantial evidence.

The 25-year-old constable’s body was found tied to a branch of a tree on the premises of Purnea police line under Khazanchihaat station yesterday. The police said that Singh had killed himself and a suicide note was found on his body. But the constable’s family alleged that he was murdered.

Former Bihar state education minister Ram Prakash Mahato today visited Ajay’s native village, Teja Tola, in Katihar and asked Purnea superintendent of police Amit Lodha to inquire into the death. “The circumstances in which his body was found make it clear that he was murdered. A 6ft youth cannot commit suicide by hanging himself from a branch of a tree that is barely 5ft above the ground,” Mahato said.

Inspector-general of Darbhanga range R.K. Mishra said: “It cannot be concluded that Ajay was killed only on the basis of circumstantial evidence. We are waiting for the autopsy report,” he said.

Mishra said a team of police officers might be formed to ascertain if there was any foul play by personnel on duty when Ajay died. “The team will also find out if Ajay had gone out of the barrack and committed suicide,” he added. Ajay’s brother, Mukesh Kumar Singh, said they were preparing to lodge an FIR with a plea for the police to treat his death as murder and not suicide.