New Delhi, Sept. 28: Two letters purportedly written by a bureaucrat and his son a day before they committed suicide have said torture led by a senior CBI officer drove them to death.

B.K. Bansal, a director-general in the corporate affairs ministry who had been accused of taking a bribe, and his son Yogesh, 25, had hanged themselves in their east Delhi home yesterday. Bansal's wife Satyabala, 57, and daughter Neha, 27, had killed themselves on July 19.

WHY THE LETTERS COULD NOT BE COVERED UP

"I am committing suicide because of the torture by the CBI. On the night of July 18 (a day after Bansal was arrested) and in the morning of July 19, CBI lady officers Ms Rekha Sangwan and Ms Amrita Kaur badly tortured my wife and daughter. My wife had narrated about it to her friends and neighbours before committing suicide. They slapped my wife several times, dug their nails into her and abused her. DIG Sanjeev Gautam also told them to torture," said a letter attributed to Bansal.

The letter, handwritten and mostly in Hindi, is dated September 26, a few hours before the father and son committed suicide.

The letter added: "In front of me, DIG Sanjeev Gautam told a lady officer in the afternoon of July 18 to torture so much that mother and daughter become as good as dead. I pleaded with the DIG but he said his name would send shivers down to my next generation, they will remember the CBI.

"He himself ordered the two lady officers in front of me to commit death-like torture. He is as much responsible as the two lady officers, Ms Rekha Sangwan and Amrita Kaur. Besides them, one fat constable also misbehaved with my wife and tortured her and mouthed nasty abuses at my wife and daughter. If it was my mistake, then why were my wife and daughter tortured and made to commit suicide?

"This was simply a murder of two women and it cannot be called suicide. DIG Sanjeev Gautam, the two lady officers and the fat constable should undergo a lie-detector test and the exact truth will come out. DIG had said 'I am Amit Shah's man. Who can touch me?' He said he would make the condition of my wife and daughter such that those who will hear it will tremble."

Shrikant Sharma, BJP's chief spokesperson, said: "It is nothing but loose and irresponsible talk and should not be given any credence. Amit Shah is a national figure and if someone is misusing his name, then it's wrong and he should not be made responsible."

The letter attributed to Bansal went on to say: "On the second raid on July 18, the lady officer threatened my wife that they will cut her son and husband into pieces and feed the dogs. They were tortured so much that that they were compelled to commit suicide. CBI director should probe all this. Before learning about their suicide, DIG Sanjeev Gautam badly tortured me and told me that he will make the condition of my wife and daughter such that the entire family will plead for death but will not get death."

The purported letter of Bansal, who was due to retire next month, ended with these words: "I am very sad after the suicide/murder of my wife and daughter by the CBI and have lost the desire to live anymore."

The letter attributed to Yogesh names the ranks of the two lady officers - SP Amrita Kaur and Dy SP Rekha Sangwan - besides the DIG.

This letter also speaks of a "pot-bellied havildar who has very little hair on his head" and investigating officer Harnam Singh. All five have been accused of torturing Yogesh and, the letter said, "this is the reason I am taking this unwanted step".

"My mother Satyabala Bansal was a very polite and religious woman and my sister Neha Bansal was very simple and was a gold medallist from Delhi University. These five officers directly and indirectly tortured them and made them cry so much that they had to commit suicide," the letter said.

The letter concludes by naming a resident of their building who made "a mockery of our suffering. At the end, I would like to tell God whatever happened to our family should not happen to any happy family".

The purported letter of the father names a different investigating officer and praises him. "IO Pramod Tyagi is a responsible person. He always gave me the hope that nothing wrong will happen from now on and I should forget whatever wrong had happened. I wish him and his family the very best and also pray that God blesses him and his family with long life," the letter attributed to Bansal said.

Neither Delhi police nor the CBI, to which the police had given copies of the suicide notes, has made the letters public. They became public because the Bansals had sent them to Press Trust of India, the news agency, and some television channels.

The CBI has a DIG named Sanjiv Gautam (the letters refer to one "Sanjeev" Gautam.)

Contacted by this newspaper, DIG Gautam, instrumental in carrying out raids on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar's office inside the secretariat in December last year, said tonight: "We do not speak to media. Please speak to our spokesperson."

Gautam, a 1995 batch IRS officer who belongs to the customs and central excise department, joined the CBI on deputation in 2014. Posted in Chandigarh, he was inducted into the CBI headquarters in Delhi on June 2, 2014, soon after the Narendra Modi government came to power.

The other officers named in the letters could not be contacted despite several calls to the CBI headquarters on Lodhi Road for their details.

CBI spokesperson R.K Gaur said he was not aware of the designation of the two women officers mentioned in the note. "They have nothing to say. We have already issued a statement and the matter is being examined," Gaur said.

The CBI said in a statement: "We have today received communication from Delhi police enclosing therewith the purported handwritten notes of Shri B.K. Bansal... and his son Shri Yogesh Bansal. It contains allegations against certain CBI officials in connection with the ongoing bribery investigation against Shri B.K. Bansal and others.

"We have examined the matter and decided to probe the allegations. The CBI is fully committed to conduct the investigation in a fair and professional manner without harassment to anyone and strictly within the parameters of law. If any violation is established during the probe, strict action will be taken against the CBI officials concerned. The competent court will be informed."