An AAP volunteer who claimed he had unsuccessfully tried to prevent Gajendra Singh from ending his life said he had little time to mount a rescue even as he blamed the policemen for not helping him.

Joginder, an AAP volunteer from Chandigarh, told media at Delhi he had climbed the tree to try and save the 41-year-old farmer, Gajendra Singh from Rajasthan, as the latter tried to hang himself during the party’s rally against NDA’s land Bill.

“I was standing close by when I saw that somebody had climbed the tree. Although I was not sure what he (Singh) was doing, I suspected his actions and decided to act in order to save him,” said Joginder, who charged that police at the spot had made no attempt to rescue the farmer. Joginder had tried to draw the attention of the crowd before taking the extreme step as he waved a broom which he had been holding from atop the tree.Joginder said it was not possible to scale the tree and help Singh, all in a fraction of seconds. “I tried to save him and climbed the tree, only I know how difficult it was. I was about to fall down myself. I could have been injured, but still I thought of saving him. “I was supposed to save him, balance myself on the branch and also call for help, all at the same time,” he said.

Accusing Delhi Police of being negligent, Joginder said there were no proper arrangements at Jantar Mantar and that the cops were just “looking on and laughing” as the tragedy unfolded.

Unheeding the appeals of AAP leaders and the crowd to climb down from the tree, Singh, a father of three, had wrapped his towel around his neck and tied it to a branch.

As police watched the whole drama, a couple of AAP workers climbed the tree and tried to rescue him, but by then the noose had throttled Singh, whose body hanged for a few moments before falling. He was rushed to the nearby RML Hospital where he was declared brought dead.