NEW DELHI: Forty seven year old Biscuit King’ Rajan Pillai died at Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital, here, on July 7. He was shifted there from Tihar Central Jail in an unconscious state. Former chairman of Brittania Industries, Pillai had escaped from Singapore on April 10 this year, the day a court there awarded him 14 years imprisonment on several counts of cheating and forgery. Early this week, he was nabbed from Meridien Hotel in New Delhi by the officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation. Sources close to Pillas’s family held that he fell unconscious in Tihar between 10a.m_and 1 a.m., but the jail ‘authorities did not shift him to hospital despite their persistent pleas, in desperation, they approached the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate who agreed 1o hear them at 8:30 p.m. But by then, it was all over.
“Sources close to the family members have ruled out suicide at the cause of Pillai’s death, They also insisted that he did not die on the jail premises.
The Medical Superintendent of the DDU Hospital, Dr. Bharat Sinha, maintained that Pillai was in a very critical condition’ when he was brought to the hospital at around 6:30 pan. However, Dr. Naresh Trehan, the director of Escorts Heart and Research Hospital, insisted that he had passed away in the Tihar Jail itself.
He was declared dead by the hospital authorities at 8:30 p.m.
All along, Pillai had claimed in the court that he was ailing from liver cirrhosis, an inflammation of liver caused by excessive consumption of liquor, to support his contention; he had produced a two month old prescription, given by the Escorts Intitule, diagnosing his aliment as cirrhosis which, he claimed, was contracted by him during his stay in Singapore.
While the former biscuit tycoon’s wife. Nina Pillai, and his younger brother, Rajeshwar Pillai, were too distraught with grief to say anything; his executive assistant Nambiar blamed the Indian judicial system and the jail authorities for his untimely demise. “When he was taken to the Court in the afternoon he was suffering from high fever, But no one was ready to believe him, a visibly angry Nambiar said, adding, “What is the Indian Government going to do now, extradite his dead body 10 Singapore?”
“We knew that he was suffering from liver cirrhosis and bleeding of Oesophagus,” pointed out Dr. Trehan, adding, “he was definitely in need of ‘urgent medical aid.
The Medical Superintendent of DDU Hospital, Dr. Bharat Sinha said that Pillai was brought to the hospital at ‘around 6:30 pan, “He was on the verge of collapsing then, and all attempts to revive him proved futile. He was finally declared dead two hours later he claimed.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 14, 1995
