DU prof told us Gamma was a pehelwan: Police

Police said this was the response of V S Parmar,head of chemistry department of DU,when asked about the gamma irradiator (containing the radioactive Cobalt 60 that was negligently disposed off to a scrapdealer in Mayapuri).

Parmar and five other DU professors are accused in the Mayapuri radiation case,which led to the death of one person and critically injured seven others.

The 285-page chargesheet,filed in court on Friday,reveals other startling facts about the professors who were working in the department that possessed such crucial equipment.

Professor R K Sharma told interrogators that he had never heard about a gamma irradiator. This,despite him being a member of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

Delhi Police have added sections under the Indian Atomic Act to the sections of death due to negligence and other sections of the IPC in the chargesheet against the six DU officials.

The court is likely to take cognisance of the probe report on September 21.

The police chargesheet says that the gamma irradiator which was last used in 1992 in the chemistry department was lying unused for the past 20 years in the then professor B K Sharma’s room.

It was when the chemistry department decided to expand the area that they decided to dispose the irradiator.

“None of the members in the disposal committee and the auction committee thought of contacting the professor concerned before disposing the gamma irradiator. The classroom,where the irradiator was kept unused,had not been opened for all these years and the blackboard still had chemistry formulaes written by Sharma on it,” the police chargesheet said.

Professor Rita Kakkar (also an accused) had suggested that the room where the irradiator was kept could be used for the expansion of the department. A meeting in this regard was held on January 28,2010 and it was attended by 25 other professors. Two committees were formed,the disposal and auction committee,and the irradiator was disposed on February 8,the chargesheet states.

It was sold to a Mayapuri based scrapdealer named Deepak Jain. On April 8 when Jain’s workers started dismantling the irradiator and were exposed to radiation rays emanating from it,a radiation leak was reported. Jain also suffered critical injuries. The exposure radiation had left the victims with decayed skin and damaged vital organs.

The irradiator was sold in the scrap market in violation of the rules of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), which says that any chemical product emitting radiations cannot be auctioned and disposed off without following mandatory regulations,the chargesheet said.

There are 62 witnesses in the case that includes DU professors,scientists of AERB,BARC and Narora Atomic Power Station.

The other accused have been identified as the then Dean of Sciences Roop Lal,Ramesh Chandra Rastogi and Ashok Prasad.

The court is likely to take cognizance of the probe report on September 21.

Nightmare he can’t forget

Deepak Jain,the scrapdealer who was exposed to the radiation is also a witness in the case has been crippled for life. He cannot go out in the sun and has to remain in an airconditioned room. The only earning member in his family,he has to take care of his family including his 90-year-old father. His left hand is crippled for life and his platelet count is low everytime. “I am still scared to touch any metal around me. I am not that physically fit but have to go to work to feed my family. The treatment has cost me a lot of money,” said Jain.