This particular case was presented as the deceased suffering from diarrhea & he was taken to hospital & while the doctor examined him, he was found dead. The dead body was buried in Baddiudukka/Bandudukka Muslim burial ground. We reached the burial ground by 1500hrs. There was huge crowd & found it difficult to get inside. With the help of deputy superintendant of police Sri.Ponnan Bhaskaran, we managed to get inside. There was pin drop silence. No body came forward to dig the grave & we were able to hear some murmurs in the form of protest.
Immediately the deputy superintendant of police requested the head man to start the digging. Then the head man was saying” who ever had made the compliant can do the job. Then one tall lean figure came forward & started the job. After few minutes we saw him falling into the partly dug grave. Then the whole police force was yelling with rage. It is well known that only Muslims are allowed to do the last rites & also in the preparation of grave when a Muslim dies. On seeing the non-cooperative attitude of the local inhabitants, the DYSP ordered his men to complete the job. The police personnel removed their uniform & did the job well. The body was taken out & put in a wooden table. Immediately I could notice # of both angle & wrist joint. & because of erosion of soft tissues due to decomposition it was clearly visible. There was some kind of blackening (degradation of hemoglobin) indicating ante mortem nature. The above finding was also noticed by Sri. Mohandas, my assistant. His observation is superb not only with this case, but to all cases he used to assist. He needs a good compliment. The soft tissues over the neck region was completely gone . Closer examination revealed # of thyroid & cricoid cartilages. Another interesting finding was the presence of carbamate (insecticidal compound) as violet colored granules. It will be having sandy texture because the chemical is imbibed in sand. Viscera were preserved for chemical analysis & later turned out to be positive for carbamate.
Now we try to analyze what happened contrary to the first information report. The deceased was a man aged 50-60 yrs & job was selling fish. Most of the time he won’t be in the house & in his absence his wife indulged in prostitution with proper support from her own father. To begin with he was a silent spectator, later on he used to quarrel with them & one day it ended in his death. In order to escape from the crime committed they first sought the story of the deceased developing uncontrolled diarrhea & died on the way. Next they got the silent support of MULLAKA to bury the dead body in the grave.
The deceased was a brother in Bombay & he came to know of the sudden demise of his elder brother due to diarrhea. He suspected some foul play & raised his voice to find out the truth. He was immediately overpowered by the people concerned & locked in a room. Somehow he escaped & reported the matter to police. He was the man who was asked to dig the grave & later on collapsed into the grave.
The opinion that I gave was the deceased died of strangulation & poison was administered into his system prior to death. The long bone injuries could have also contributed in the causation of death.
The case for posted for trial before the Principal Sessions court Kassargode & Sri. James was the Judge & culprits were convicted.
Some interesting incidents occurred to me during trial & will narrate separatley.
Dr.n.rajaram
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Antemortem hanging/?perimortem suspension
When you study cases of hanging over a period of time, suicidal cases are more common than accidental & homicidal. Perusal of literature also shows that accidental/homicidal are not uncommon. Iam going to describe one such case of hanging in which the person could have been suspended when he was alive.
One such case occurred few years ago in the Kassargode district of Kerala. Like any other case brought for medico-legal autopsy this case also came. The body was in a state of decomposition. No salivary dribble mark could be appreciated. The time since death could be >48hs &<72hrs. There was a pressure abrasion over the front & sides of neck. The cuticle over the region of pressure abrasion was not peeled off completely. In other areas it was almost peeled off. No other injury/injuries externally. On opening the abdominal cavity more than one liter of fluid blood & clot escaped. I made a search for the source of bleeding & found complete irregular laceration of liver. The laceration of liver is an unusual finding in a case of hanging. The possibility of the victim sustaining the injury by a tear of the ligature material disproportionate to the body weight is very uncommon. It can only be produced by repeated kicking or by use of some blunt weapon.
After the postmortem examination I explained to the charge Head constable that I suspect foul play & the case should be investigated well. He was about to say something & he suddenly stopped & assured me that .he will meet me another day.
Few days after he came & narrated the whole event. The deceased & his brother are settlers from KOTTAYAM. They are doing business together. Both of them are immensely rich & are having ancestral property in common. These two people controlled The whole activity of the police station. They will decide what should be done & what should not be done. Gradually there occurred business rivalry & dispute over the ancestral property. One day the elder thought of killing his younger one & for that he engaged a hired killerBy paying Rs 25,000. The hired one approached the younger brother known very well & informed the matter. On hearing this the younger one paid him Rs50,000 & asked him to kill his elder one.
With this in mind the hired killer approached the elder on a rainy night & informed him that they can a have a talk over the dispute infront of his younger brother before killing him. The elder one agreed & three of them went out.
The next day evening the elder brother’s dead body was found in a ditch without any ligature material. When the body arrived for autopsy it was in a decomposed state. According to the police the hired killer & the younger brother gave multiple kicks over the abdomen. All of them were completely drunk & they tried to hang him alive or in the peri- mortem state. Any way the person survived over a period of time as evidenced by presence of blood clot. The same Head constable wrote the same in a separate letter addressed to me stating also his token of appreciation. This letter I kept along the detailed notes in the department.
After that the Sub inspector approached me to inquire about the manner of death. I told him that it could be a case of homicide. Hearing this he tried to move away from the department by saying that it is only suicidal; but I forced him to remain there to takedown my statement & which was written by another charge police constable, because of the fact that the sub inspector informed me that his hand writing was poor.
He reached his station & informed the circle inspector that the doctor who conducted the autopsy had disclosed the manner of death. On hearing this younger brother was put behind bars. Two constables who were on duty on the night in which the younger brother was put behind bars came & expressed their gratitude to me for having proved the case by postmortem examination.
The opinion that I gave was the post mortem examination were consistent with death due to hanging & he could have sustained blunt injury abdomen prior to hanging.
Dr.N. RAJARAM
One such case occurred few years ago in the Kassargode district of Kerala. Like any other case brought for medico-legal autopsy this case also came. The body was in a state of decomposition. No salivary dribble mark could be appreciated. The time since death could be >48hs &<72hrs. There was a pressure abrasion over the front & sides of neck. The cuticle over the region of pressure abrasion was not peeled off completely. In other areas it was almost peeled off. No other injury/injuries externally. On opening the abdominal cavity more than one liter of fluid blood & clot escaped. I made a search for the source of bleeding & found complete irregular laceration of liver. The laceration of liver is an unusual finding in a case of hanging. The possibility of the victim sustaining the injury by a tear of the ligature material disproportionate to the body weight is very uncommon. It can only be produced by repeated kicking or by use of some blunt weapon.
After the postmortem examination I explained to the charge Head constable that I suspect foul play & the case should be investigated well. He was about to say something & he suddenly stopped & assured me that .he will meet me another day.
Few days after he came & narrated the whole event. The deceased & his brother are settlers from KOTTAYAM. They are doing business together. Both of them are immensely rich & are having ancestral property in common. These two people controlled The whole activity of the police station. They will decide what should be done & what should not be done. Gradually there occurred business rivalry & dispute over the ancestral property. One day the elder thought of killing his younger one & for that he engaged a hired killerBy paying Rs 25,000. The hired one approached the younger brother known very well & informed the matter. On hearing this the younger one paid him Rs50,000 & asked him to kill his elder one.
With this in mind the hired killer approached the elder on a rainy night & informed him that they can a have a talk over the dispute infront of his younger brother before killing him. The elder one agreed & three of them went out.
The next day evening the elder brother’s dead body was found in a ditch without any ligature material. When the body arrived for autopsy it was in a decomposed state. According to the police the hired killer & the younger brother gave multiple kicks over the abdomen. All of them were completely drunk & they tried to hang him alive or in the peri- mortem state. Any way the person survived over a period of time as evidenced by presence of blood clot. The same Head constable wrote the same in a separate letter addressed to me stating also his token of appreciation. This letter I kept along the detailed notes in the department.
After that the Sub inspector approached me to inquire about the manner of death. I told him that it could be a case of homicide. Hearing this he tried to move away from the department by saying that it is only suicidal; but I forced him to remain there to takedown my statement & which was written by another charge police constable, because of the fact that the sub inspector informed me that his hand writing was poor.
He reached his station & informed the circle inspector that the doctor who conducted the autopsy had disclosed the manner of death. On hearing this younger brother was put behind bars. Two constables who were on duty on the night in which the younger brother was put behind bars came & expressed their gratitude to me for having proved the case by postmortem examination.
The opinion that I gave was the post mortem examination were consistent with death due to hanging & he could have sustained blunt injury abdomen prior to hanging.
Dr.N. RAJARAM
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