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Dr.
Anil Aggrawal is a professor of Forensic Medicine at the Maulana Azad
Medical College, New Delhi-110002. Direct email
to Dr.
Anil Aggrawal. Dr. Anil Aggrawal's Forensic Files |
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The dead body of 37 year old Kalu was found on the railway track early on the morning of 23rd December 1993. Two villagers who were going to the nearby woods for their early morning ablutions found his dead body on the track and immediately informed the police. The body was badly mutilated. The head had severed completely from the trunk. It appeared that he had committed suicide by lying on a railway track and allowing a train to pass over his neck, decapitating him. This is indeed a common mode of committing suicide in this country. Investigations into the life style of Kalu revealed that he was lately having poor relations with his wife Dayawati. He used to have frequent tiffs with her. He suspected that Dayawati was infidel. She did have a paramour - a person called Rakesh. On the morning of 22nd both Kalu and Dayawati had a violent argument over some matter, after which Kalu left the house in anger. Nobody heard of him after that.
From the story and the way Kalu was found dead, it appeared to be a clear-cut case of suicide. It was perhaps natural for an ordinary man to commit suicide under such circumstances. However when I was called to the scene of crime, I could say quite easily that it was a case of murder. A relatively insignificant looking point led me to that.
When a person is alive, his heart is beating. If he is hurt during life, there should be massive effusion of blood. If the injury is as great as decapitation, normally one would expect a huge outpouring of blood. Decapitation involves severing of carotid arteries. These are very large arteries present on the side of the neck, and carry blood to the brain. These arteries are directly connected to the aorta, a huge artery arising straight from the heart. Thus in a way the carotid arteries have almost a direct and immediate connection with the heart. This should produce very massive bleeding around the severed head if the heart were beating at the time of decapitation. However, if the heart were not beating at the time of decapitation -- such as would happen if someone kept an already dead body on the railway track -- the effusion of blood would be negligible. When I was told the story of Kalu in my laboratory, I conjured up images of a dead body, around which the ground would be soaked with blood for several yards. However when I reached the scene of death, I found that very little blood had flown from the decapitated head and the headless trunk. It took me no time to conclude that Kalu was already dead when his head got decapitated. In other words someone had already killed him and kept his dead body on the railway track to hoodwink the police.
This is not an unusual method to conceal murder. Criminals frequently kill a person and keep the dead body on the railway track. Railway injuries are usually not investigated very thoroughly, and rarely if ever are brought to a court of law. There is one simple reason for this. There is no way a railway driver could drive negligently. Railway track is his exclusive domain, and he is free to drive on it as he likes. In fact pedestrians and other people are expected to keep away from an approaching train. So if a person is accidentally killed by a train, rarely is a driver hauled up in court. This is not the situation in ordinary roadside accidents, where drivers are often found negligent. Even if they are not negligent actually, a suit is invariably brought against them for negligent driving. Road is a domain for all - be it a motorcyclist, a car driver, a pedestrian or a rickshaw wallah (a rickshaw puller) - and everyone must use it in such a way that other users’ rights are not infringed upon.
Experienced criminals apparently know of this fact, and thus they find it very convenient to throw a dead body on a railway track. While examining such cases we have to keep in mind several facts related to railway deaths. Railway deaths are usually suicidal or accidental. Rarely if ever are they homicidal. It must be clarified here that homicidal railway deaths are quite different from the situation where an already dead body is thrown on a railway track. A true homicidal railway death would be where a person is pushed in front of an approaching train. When an already dead body is thrown on the railway track, it only means concealment of murder as a railway accident.
A simple decapitation is commonly an indication of suicide and is rarely accidental. It is because only a person with a suicidal intention would lie on the railway line in such a way that his neck comes pat upon the railway track, so as to have a cleanly severed head. But as was in the case of Kalu, it might mean concealment of homicide too. Much depends on the proper interpretation of the scene of death. (This is one prime example of a situation where a doctor must visit the scene of crime. As explained, he can get much useful information by visiting the scene of crime, rather than by simply receiving the dead body through police in his post-mortem room). In an accidental railway death, where a person gets hit by a train while crossing the line, or while alighting from a moving train, amputation of limbs or trunk is the more often consequence. On electrified lines, electric burns and charring may be found, the extent of which will depend upon the duration of contact with the live rail, and may include bone.
Accidental injuries can occur in a number of situations. Two of them have already been mentioned. Accidental injuries can also occur, while leaning out of the window, traveling on the footboards, or during collisions. While walking on the rails, the injuries are usually gross and consist of primary impact injuries caused by contact with parts of the front of the engine and secondary injuries due to being thrown and possibly run over. Primary impact injuries are those injuries which a pedestrian sustains by first coming in contact with the offending vehicle. When the vehicle throws him on the ground, he receives further injuries which are known as secondary injuries. While crossing, the primary impact will be on the side and will usually involve the head and shoulders.
If a person - usually a child - were leaning out of window, the injuries are almost exclusively on the head, the injured person being found either in the carriage or on the side of the line. If the person was found on the line, there might be apprehensions as to how he died. Massive skull fractures usually tell us that he must have beeen leaning out of the window.
If a person has fallen from a train, the injuries are usually in the nature of multiple abrasions with impact injuries due to striking objects. Such victims lose a lot of blood. Consequently, shock is usually a prominent feature.
In collisions, the victim will frequently show characteristic fractures of the legs similar to those found in motor car accidents. In addition, transmitted force may cause compression fractures of the spine. Secondary injuries usually occur due to falling parcels or luggage.
Examination of the scene of death is often the key to solving cases of railway deaths, as was in Kalu’s case. Had I not examined the scene of death, and just conducted a post-mortem examination of the body of Kalu in my dissection room, it is doubtful if ever I would have been able to find out the facts with such relative ease. Examination of the dead body also reveals clinching points. Presence of the marks of throttling or stab injuries definitely point to homicide. The nature of railway injuries, whether antemortem or postmortem, solves much of the problem.
The chemical examination of the viscera also helps. When I examined the viscera for common poisons, I found a lot of arsenic trioxide in his stomach. This is a common poison known in vernacular as Sankhya or Somalkhar. The whole story gradually emerged in my mind and I told it to the police. It was a great satisfaction to know that barring minor details, most of it was correct.
What had really happened was this. After Kalu left on the morning of 22nd December, Dayawati contacted Rakesh. They had gotten sick of the daily tiffs. They wanted to get rid of Kalu not only because of the frequent tiffs Dayawati was having but also because they now wanted to marry. Kalu was a great hurdle in their plans. Both of them hatched out a plan. When Kalu returned in the evening, Dayawati gave him dinner heavily laced with Sankhya which she had procured from Rakesh. Within an hour Kalu expired. The problem was now to dispose of the dead body. They waited till 11 pm. They were aware that a local train passed from the railway line just outside the village at about 00.30 am everyday. Both of them somehow transported the body of Kalu and laid it on the railway track in such a manner that his neck was on one of the rails. They knew that the train would severe the head of Kalu, and everybody would think that he had committed suicide. Thanks to forensic science, their plan could not materialize and both of them landed up in jail for life.
Copyright 2004 by Dr. Anil Aggrawal
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