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

ISSN 0971-0973 J Indian Acad Forensic Med, 32(2)one is either constriction is postmortem in nature or itmay be wiped off.The larynx and trachea and respiratory passageswere deeply congested and hyoid bone was fractured,signify that violent asphyxia death due constrictionaround neck. The hyoid bone was fractured. Thestomach was half filled with food and gases andbladder was empty signify death must have occurnearly 2 hours after the consumption of dinner andafter the emptying the bladder. All the viscera werecongested.Cause of death was clearly given in the PM reportthat „death is due to asphyxia as a result ofstrangulation‟.A thorough search was made on spot finally goingthrough each every aspect of provided document andphotograph the sequence of events werereconstructed.Reconstruction of the incident:1. Taking consideration of all the relevant factsit was seems impossible that the deceasedsuicide to hang himself, and his attitude andpersonality as stated by near and dear onegoes against the favor of suicide, his hugeproperty and disputes regarding his heir ofhis property makes him very prone forhomicide.2. It is concluded that he may go for bed afterdinner at 10:30 pm, and peaceful eveningsomewhere between 00:30am to 1:30 am.Some may have the entered in the housepassage in the backyard where they wouldhave cut the nylon rope of the backyard withordinary knife obtained from kitchen. Theseall thing either make him awaken thedeceased or intruder take advantage ofdeceased night awakening habits formicturation. Opening of backyard slidingiron gate may have some suspicion to thedeceased, and as the deceased returningfrom urinal then the attack from behind withligature around the neck and they tried tostrangulate him and drag him on the floor atthe same time some another person wasthere to stop him from crying by closing hismouth and nostrils. The deceased body wastoo heavy to hang so they kept as such.3. Servant was either prior information andgave peaceful passages to the offenders orhe was witness of the incident. He has noother choice than the helps the accusedbecause of his has huge financialdependency for education of his children‟s,who are studying in professional colleges ona handsome fees. And every time hisstatement backing by and as per feeding ofsome intelligent person, and seems to bepoorly cooperating. Authorities were alsovery cautious in this high profile case.Conclusion:After the meticulous reconstruction of event,with carefully gathered evidences it was concludedthat it was a case of either planed/unplannedstrangulation by means of ligature, and there wassigns of smothering also which clearly reflecting itshomicidal nature.All the aforementioned activities, of evidencecollected and examined were carried out in thepresence of relatives of the deceased and authorities.Had the efforts not been made to conduct a properscientific examination with the help of forensicexperts, this case would have been deemed to be acase of suicide, and hardly anything would have beendone for the justice for poor victim. It is alsoimportant to state that in such sensational anddoubtful cases, the spot examination should beconducted immediately with the help of a completeinvestigation team i.e. police authorities, forensicexperts and autopsy surgeon, so the all the findingscan be examined by the experts and cautiously allevidence may collected. Which latter on strengthenthe prosecution and justice can delivered poorvictims. Spot examination should be held withoutdelay, but even delayed spot examination willenormously help in reconstructing the incident. Soscene investigation may be late but it‟s never too late,we still can find something.References:1. Mathiharan K Patnaik AK. Modi‟s MedicalJurisprudence and Toxicology. 23 rd Ed. Lexis NexisButterworths. 2005.2. Donald O. Schultz. Criminal Investigation Technique.3. Harry Soderman & John J. O‟Connel. Modern CriminalInvestigation.4. Parikh, C.K. Text Book of Medical Jurisprudence andToxicology, 1990 (reprint, 1995).5. Krishna Vij. Text Book of Forensic Medicine andToxicology, Principles and Practice, third edition, 2005(Reprint, 2005).Photograph No.1Position of dead body at scene of crime170