Mumbai: A forensic doctor from AIIMS being cross-examined in the Sheena Bora murder trial by Indrani Mukerjea’s advocate said he had not sent organs which were found with skeletal remains for histopathological examination, that would have helped ascertain if there were traces of poison in them.
In a letter received from CBI, the witness, who was then the head of the department of forensic medicine at the premier institute, had been informed that the victim was strangulated after being administered some drug or sedative.
The first post-mortem report had mentioned that dried and decomposed organs were found in the thoracic region and abdomen. When asked by advocate Sudeep Pasbola if he had interacted with the doctor who had carried out the post-mortem, he replied in the negative.
Doctor Sudhir Gupta answered when asked, that members of the medical board of AIIMS, which was constituted for the examination of the skeletal remains, also did not collect the samples of soil from the location where the remains were found. He accepted soil samples are vital for assessing the decomposition.
The prosecution case is that Sheena’s body was burnt using kerosene after she was strangled. The witness said the bones should have been sent for chemical analysis to find if any inflammatory material was used.
Asked if he had seen photos or videos of the body being exhumed, he said he did not remember seeing them. Gupta further said he did not try to find out if the standard procedure was followed for exhumation.
Following procedure, Pasbola said, was necessary to avoid post-mortem artefacts, that is, changes caused after death which may lead to misinterpretation of medico-legal findings.
