HYDERABAD: Dr T Krupal Singh, professor and HOD of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at Gandhi Hospital, who led a team of doctors to conduct the first autopsy on the bodies of the four accused in the rape and murder of a veterinarian, deposed before the three-member SC commission.
During the deposition, he informed they had collected gunshot residue (GSR) using cotton swabs from Mohd Arif and Chintakunta Chennakesavulu and sent the same for forensic analysis through Shadnagar police. The swabs were collected before washing the bodies for the PME. “But, this fact has not been mentioned in the PME report as it is the procedure to be followed,” said Dr Krupal Singh. He said that his statement about collection of GSR samples was from his memory and that he had not mentioned it anywhere.
‘Cops didn’t update us on NHRC guidelines’
He also stated that the police did not inform them about the NHRC guidelines to be followed while conducting PME in custodial death cases. When the commission asked him if they had ruled out all indices of custodial torture and interrogation in the PME reports, as per NHRC guidelines, he stated: “we did not find any injuries related to torture on the bodies.” He also stated that “no abrasion injuries and no bullet grazing injuries were noted” on Mohd Arif’s body and that the injuries “were all piercing firearm injuries.”
When questioned, referring to the statement of the AIIMS team’s PME reports, Dr Krupal Singh said, “This could be an artefact, as a fresh abrasion is easily found on the day of first PME. AIIMS team conducted PME on the 17th day after the first PME and bodies were preserved at a temperature of 4-6 degrees centigrade and all bodies were dry and desiccated due to cold and abrasion at that point can not be made out” he stated.