LUCKNOW: Missing bumper and headlights of the SUV belonging to slain Apple executive Vivek Tiwari have upset forensic experts, who said it was essential to keep the vehicle preserved in order to check the veracity of the claims made by the two accused cops and the eyewitness. Tiwari was allegedly killed by two constables for refusing to stop during a routine checking in Lucknow last week.
The damaged car in which Vivek Tiwari was shot by a police constable on patrol duty. (PTI Photo)
Accused constables Prashant Chaudhary and Sandeep Kumar had claimed that Tiwari had tried to run them over following which Chaudhary fired in self-defence.
A day after the incident, TOI had also highlighted the ‘slightly damaged bumper’ of the SUV changing to ‘completely damaged bumper’ and the missing headlights.
Forensic experts from FSL said that had the bumper been intact, it would have helped them trace the exact pattern of damage caused if the SUV had hit the bike and when it rammed the pole. The headlights would have revealed whether the SUV had hit the pole with headlights on or off.
“The pistol and uniforms of constables were handed over to us four days after the incident. There are chances that they could have got contaminated,” said the experts.
Private forensic expert Pradyumaan Singh said: “There are chances that the SUV did not hit the bike at all and the cops fiddled with the scene of the crime.”
The deep depression on the bonnet in the middle indicates that the SUV had rammed the pole with force, he said. “If the headlights were on when it rammed the pole the inert gases in the filament of the bulbs would have caused blackening. The headlights otherwise remain intact,” said Singh.
SIT officials, however, said it was a matter of probe whether the bumper and the headlights were deliberately damaged when the SUV was towed.
Vivek Tiwari. (PTI file photo)
