jiafm, 2010-32(2) april-june. - forensic medicine

More documents

Recommendations

Info

ISSN 0971-0973 J Indian Acad Forensic Med, 32(2)Case reportImportance of Scene of Crime Visit, It May Be Late, but It Is NeverToo Late*Prof. U.S. Sinha, **Dr A. K. Singh, ***Dr. Y. K. PathakAbstractA male aged about 75 years was found dead in his residence. When police arrived to the scene of incidence byinformation of relatives, he founds body was lying down in supine position on the floor with ligature mark aroundthe neck and deeply congested protruded tongue from the mouth, eyes widely open, left hand lying on abdomen andright resting on the floor. During initial investigation Police relying on the history given by the servant and relativespresumed that it to be case of suicide. But he did not find any reason for suicide. Under dubious nature of casepolice become bound to take the forensic expert opinion after 6 days of intensive investigation.A team of forensic experts (authors of this paper) visited and scientifically examined the scene of incidence andgave their expert opinion to solve the case.Key Words: Suicide, Homicide, Hanging, Strangulation, Scene of CrimeIntroduction:In any crime situation, whether simple ormysterious ones, scientific crime scene examinationplay a very vital role in providing clues and helps indrawing up accurate and logical conclusions.There may be situations where the police reportsare incomplete as sources of information. This isbecause the police are primarily interested indetermining whether a homicide was committed, andthey usually are not trained to collect extensive dataon other aspect of case. Nevertheless, inevaluating a possible suicide, it is highly desirable tohave a description of the scene of death, includingposition of body, and to have evidence gathered atthe scene, such as weapons, pills, poisons, and notes,etc. In addition, it is important to reconstruct thehabits of the victims both in connection with themethod of death, and regards to the person‟s generallifestyle.This will help to evaluate whether the person was atthe high risk for death by suicide or for death withaccident or homicide.Corresponding Author:**Dr. A. K. Singh, Associate professor,Dept. of Forensic Medicine & ToxicologyMLN Medical College AllahabadPhone No. 09451578765, 0522-2405634Email: abhas4you@yahoo.co.inAddress: B1/103. Sector G, Jankipuram, Lucknow*Professor and HOD,*** Medico Legal Consultant, State Medico LegalCell, Govt. of U.P.Interviewing the person who knew thedeceased fairly well such friends and familymembers, as well as professional persons such asteachers, doctors, and clergymen who had dealt withthe deceased may go long way in reconstructing theevents. The process may be termed as “psychologicalautopsy”. The objective of the psychological autopsyis to reconstruct the background, habits, personalitytraits, character and life style of the deceased.[In addition, it is our personal opinion that in anysuspicious death, the conclusion arrived at should beto the satisfaction of aggrieved party; apart from theultimate satisfaction of the investigation officer andthe team of autopsy surgeon and forensic scientist.In this particular case, the relatives of the diseasedwere present during the time of thesceneinvestigation and were eventually convinced by ourresults and appreciated the efforts in conducting thecrime scene examination.]Case reportIncidence took place on Thursday morning 4:00am, 8 th October 2009 an unnatural death of anunmarried, well reputed millionaire old man of 75years age (height 5feet 6 inches and weight 100kgapprox) in his residence. When police arrived afterinformation at 9:10am he founds body was lyingdown in supine position on the floor with ligaturemark around the neck and deeply congestedprotruded tongue from the mouth, eyes widely open,left hand lying on abdomen and right resting on thefloor, left leg was straight and right bend inside fromknee. Both the hands were open, eyes were partlyopen and seminal stain on the undergarments. It wasthe big house surrounded nearby two lodges which168
J Indian Acad Forensic Med, 32(2) ISSN 0971-0973was owned by the deceased, where approximately200 students were residing for their study.Deceased was last seen alive by his servant; whogone for sleep in the same room with the deceased,according to him he was perfectly well and nothingabnormal noted by him before going to bed at about10.30 pm. According to servant at 4:00 am on 8 thOctober 2009, when he wake up and came out of theroom he saw that Victim was hanging with a doubleligature of nylon rope in a loop fashion and feet wasresting on floor with bend knee at the door betweenadjacent room and courtyard with half opened slidingiron gate. He freed the victim from loop for the scopeof survival and he made him in lying position withdifficulty due to heavy weight of the victim. He rantowards kitchen which is in the courtyard he startedshouting from the kitchen window for help then heopened the second back door so that he may availearly help. Peoples residing in nearby lodge thencomes and saw the victim was lying dead on thefloor. Then he informs deceased relatives and policewas informed subsequently 9:10 am. Then afterpreliminary investigation and formalities body wassend to the postmortem examination.During initial investigation Police relying on thehistory given by the servant and relatives presumedthat it to be case of suicide. But he did not find anyreason for suicide. The forensic technical teamrequested by investigating authorities 6 days after theincidence, reached the scene of incidence and notedthe details from the concerned persons about thepersonal and public behavior of the deceased at theresidence during the last moments when he was seenalive on the fateful day. It was tentatively concludedthat everything was going well and there wassuspicion that even some deal was finalized, he mighthave some huge cash at his residence. Team alsoscientifically observed the whole scene of incidenceand noted every minute detail.Observation and DiscussionThe scientific investigation team approachedto the scene of incidence on 14 October 2009, at 6pmalong with the investigating authorities. The scene ofincidence was not well preserved. The relatives werealready there. Forensic team meticulously inspectedthe entire house including living room, dining room,courtyard, backyard and all the possible assessableentry and exit. As per alleged history narrated byservant we made him to create similar situation as heseen the condition of scene of incidence, likedirection exact state of deceased while suspendingwith the loop ligature, position of chairs, knife etc.and we few Important facts about the scene ofincidence as point of suspension is around 9 feet, nofriction mark was present at point of suspension,adjacent wall, old nylon rope which was used as aligature material taken from nylon string tied fordrying of cloths in the court yard after cutting fromboth ends by sharp ordinary kitchen knife which wastaken from the kitchen and kept on the nearby table.There was history of cleaning his living area 2 or3times after the incidence. There were no signs ofbreaking of door locks etc. Front door was not lockedwith supportive locks from inside, even at lastwooden door of courtyard. But solid iron sliding gateat backyard and two solid irony gates in front side ofhis living room give impression about victim‟ssincerity regarding security. Sliding gate was foundduring visit that it can be opened from courtyard sidewith efforts. Courtyard having upstairs this can beassessable from inside and outside.Taking consideration of heavy built and olderage, it was found very difficult for the deceased toclimb on old plastic chairs, which were kept aboveone another and to reach the point of suspension,especially in the background of climbing the stairsand bathing was a difficult task for him. Same is truefor thin built of servant of 45 years age, and heavybuilt of deceased it is very unlikely that he can bemade free the deceased body from the ligature andmanaged to the lying down position without inflictingany injuries.Photographs have been taken by the policephotographer, inquest report/ panchnama andpostmortem report asked by the investigationauthorities for correlation of the facts. PM report hasbeen estimated time since death around ½ day, whenPM conducted at 4.05 pm. There were very peculiarante mortem injuries which were as followings:Single encircling ligature mark was there ofmore than ¾ of circumference of the neck,(30cm × 2cm with 12cm gape at the nape ofthe neck)Abrasion on back of left shoulder (4cm ×2cm), medial of right knee joint (2cm×1cm),lateral part of left thigh (5cm×4cm), outerpart of left lower leg (2cm×2cm) and lateralpart of right side of chest (10cm×6cm).Contusion with abrasion (3cm×2cm) onouter part of left lower leg 7cm below theknee joint which was confirmed with slittingof contused area.Contusion (1cm×1/2 cm) on the right side ofinner part of lower lip which was alsoconfirmed by slitting.There was cut on the tip of the protrudedtongue.Last two findings were very important which goesin the favor of attempt of smothering for preventingthe deceased to not made cry for help rest goes forsign of struggle.There was absence of any stain of dribbling ofsaliva, with this we can conclude only two possibility169
Page 2 and 3:
ISSN 0971-0973 J Indian Acad Forens
Page 4 and 5:
Page 6 and 7:
Page 8 and 9:
Page 10 and 11:
Page 12 and 13:
Page 14 and 15:
Page 16 and 17:
Page 18 and 19:
Page 20 and 21:
Page 22 and 23:
Page 24 and 25:
Page 26 and 27: ISSN 0971-0973 J Indian Acad Forens
Page 96: ISSN 0971-0973 J Indian Acad Forens
show all

jiafm, 2010-32(2) april-june. - forensic medicine

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?