Nedumkandam: As a few Kerala cops are in the dock over the June 21 custodial death of Vagamon native and financier Kumar, a serious lapse has been pointed out in the report on his autopsy conducted at the Medical College Hospital (MCH), Kottayam. The alleged glaring error could weaken the case against the cops who are in the dock for the fatal torture as had happened in the sensational Soumya murder case wherein the Supreme Court had rescinded the death penalty awarded to accused Govindachamy on the basis of mistakes in the postmortem report.
As the initial autopsy report of Kumar does not mention when the injuries on the body were probably inflicted or caused, the assistant professor BK Jameskutty, who did the post-mortem, has now reportedly submitted a revised report. It was handed over discreetly to the Crime Branch special investigation team probing the custodial murder, sources said, adding, the initial report was prepared in such a way that the jail authorities or people who had allegedly thrashed him could be implicated for assault and murder and not the cops. They also said the Home Department was taking a serious note of the error in the report.
The original report said Kumar had 14 bruises and seven contusions on the body. At least four bones on the upper back were broken. On the whole, there were 22 injuries. But the report fails to asses and state its ‘age.’
However, Jameskutty told Manorama that the ‘age’ of the injuries had been mentioned in the report. He also said he had apprised the authorities about this.
On June 12, the people of Nedumkandam had rounded up Kumar and handed him over to the police. He was detained at the Nedumkandam police station till June 15, the day his arrest was registered. He was then shifted to the Peermade sub-jail on remand. In this context, ‘dating’ the injuries would be critical to ascertaining when Kumar had sustained it. If the ‘cause dates’ get no mention on the postmortem report, the general assumption is that the injuries occurred in the 24 hours preceding the death. In this scenario, the Peermade jail staff would be held responsible for the injuries on Kumar.
An inmate of the Peermade jail had told the Crime Branch that the staff had assaulted Kumar at the facility.
The police, meanwhile, stick to their version that the people who rounded up Kumar had assaulted him. The police had registered cases against 30 people for having ‘assaulted’ Kumar.
Weak autopsy
The law mandates that a special team of expert doctors should conduct the autopsy in custodial death cases. In Kumar's case, an assistant professor (Dr B.K. Jameskutty) and a post-graduate student (Dr Subin Natarajan) performed it.
Sources said there were at least 10 doctors, including the head of the Department of Forensics, were available at the MCH when Kumar's autopsy was held.
What caused pneumonia
The postmortem report mentions pneumonia as the cause of death. It said there were indications of a violent shove against a rough surface. But it does not state if assault caused contusions which, in turn, led to pneumonia. The requisite swab tests were not done to ascertain the severity of the pneumonia attack.
The autopsy report also said the kidneys were swollen ‘beyond normal.’ These should have been sent for detailed examination wherein it could be concluded if Kumar was denied water during custody.
Three more accused
The Crime Branch will include at least three more cops to the list of accused, taking the total number to seven. Now, sub-inspector M.K. Sabu and civil police officer Sajeev Anotny are the two accused in custody. Its initial list had mentioned the number of accused as four.
The government had suspended eight officers after the incident. The team is expected to arrest assistant sub-inspector Rejimon and police driver Niyaz soon. It was ascertained that seven of the eight officers in suspension had assaulted Kumar in custody.
Sabu and Sajeev Antony told the Crime Branch that Rejimon and Niyaz were the ones who used brutal force on Kumar. They used third-degree methods to break down Kumar.
The then superintendent of police, Idukki, K.B. Venugopal had formed a special eight-member squad to curb increasing incidents of robbery on the Kambam-Kambammettu road. Some members of the team had reached the Nedumkandam police station the day Kumar was taken into custody. They interrogated Kumar on the first-floor restroom at the station.
The Crime Branch has so far recorded the statements of 52 policemen. After corroborating the facts, the team would also register a case of manipulating documents against SI Sabu.
