HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has directed police to obtain a fresh forensic opinion into the death of a man whose body bore injury marks, questioning the closure of the case as a natural death caused by cardiac arrest.
Justice T Madhavi Devi issued the direction while hearing a petition by Liyadella Priyanka, wife of deceased Liyadella Raju, who alleged that police had failed to conduct a fair investigation.
The case, registered at Geesugonda police station in Warangal district, was closed based on the opinion of an assistant professor in the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology department of Kakatiya Medical College, Hanamkonda, who concluded that Raju had died of sudden cardiac arrest and that the death was natural.
The petitioner, however, pointed to injury marks visible on the body and in photographs placed before the court. The high court noted that the postmortem report also recorded injuries.
The court observed that while police had sought a point-wise explanation from the forensic expert about the injuries, the subsequent response again attributed the death to cardiac arrest without adequately addressing the specific issues raised.
The court directed police to seek a fresh opinion from the Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad.
Police were directed to forward the postmortem report, photographs, earlier forensic opinion and other relevant records. The fresh opinion must be obtained within three months of receipt of the court order, following which police must take appropriate action in accordance with law and provide a copy of the opinion to the petitioner.
