Delhi CM speaks to dead farmer's kin, assures help

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday assured "best possible help" to the family of Rajasthan farmer Gajendra Singh, who hanged himself at an AAP rally in the national capital.

"The chief minister spoke to his (the farmer's) family over the phone. He assured the family of best possible help," said a Delhi government official.

Earlier in the day, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh, a confidant of Kejriwal, visited Gajendra Singh's distraught family at its village in Rajasthan's Dausa district.

Sanjay Singh gave a cheque of Rs.10 lakh to the family, which demanded "martyr's status" for Gajendra Singh and a job for a family member in the Delhi government.

"I will convey these (demands) to Kejriwal. The matter will be considered most sympathetically by the Delhi government," Sanjay Singh told the media after meeting the bereaved family.

It was the first meeting between AAP leaders and Hajendra Singh's family who in the past two days bitterly attacked the party for not doing enough to save the distressed farmer.

Gajendra Singh hanged himself from a tree on Wednesday at an AAP rally in the heart of the capital called by the party to denounce the central government's land ordinance.

Delhi Police had accused AAP activists of instigating the farmer to commit suicide and of preventing police and fire services emergency vehicles from coming to his help.

The AAP denied the charges, and in turn accused Delhi Police of not acting quickly to save the man who was rushed to a hospital by AAP activists.

Also on Friday, Kejriwal apologised for not halting his speech after coming to know of the incident but maintained that the man was alive when he was brought down from the tree. Gajendra Singh was declared dead on being taken to a hospital.