In its “opinion”, the report mentioned in the “cause of death”, that “possibility of multiple firearm injuries resulting in haemorrhagic shock cannot be ruled out”.
(File) The second autopsy report of slain gangster Jaipal Bhullar has ruled out any physical torture before he was killed by police in Kolkata on June 9.
“There are no injuries on the body of the deceased which are suggestive of physical torture. Majority of injuries are firearm injuries and the fracture on the left forearm alleged to be caused due to torture is actually due to impact of bullet resulting in fracture and shattering of the bone. The presence of metallic piece just adjoining that shattering proves the same,” read the autopsy report by a panel of four doctors from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER)’s Forensic Science department.
The report also said, “X-Rays of all major joints including both upper limbs and lower limbs do not show fracture of any kind. During postmortem examination, multiple exploratory incisions were given on all the parts of the body including both ears. No underlying injury was found at any place which is suggestive of any kind of torture.”
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on Monday directed PGIMER to constitute a medical board and conduct a second post-mortem on Bhullar following a plea by gangster’s father, Bhupinder Singh, who alleged that his son was killed in a fake police encounter near Kolkata and that injuries on his body allegedly indicated that he was tortured before death.
Earlier, on Thursday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had dismissed the plea, following which Jaipal’s father approached Supreme Court which directed the High Court to decide the petition on merit.
Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala, Senior Deputy Advocate General, Punjab had submitted in the court that the Punjab Police was not involved in any way in the alleged encounter, and all the action was of the West Bengal authorities.
The second autopsy report was handed over to Bhupinder on Tuesday night and cremation was held in Ferozepur on Wednesday.
Jaipal’s brother, Amritpal Bhullar, who is lodged in Bathinda jail in 30 kg gold robbery case of Ludhiana was brought from jail to attend the cremation.
Bhupinder, through counsel senior advocate APS Randhawa, while demanding a second post mortem on Monday, had contended that his son’s body had been handed over by the West Bengal authorities in a sealed box and that before conducting the last rites, a number of injuries were found on the body showing that Jaipal had been “tortured”.
The HC had asked the petitioner’s counsel as to whether the injuries visible on the body find mention in the first post-mortem report. The petitioner’s counsel had submitted that the first post-mortem report was not with him. However, he had added, that the doctor had informed him that the cause of death was due to fire-arm injury.
The second autopsy done by PGIMER doctors Dr Senthil Kumar R, Professor Y S Bansal, Professor Ritambra Nada and Dr Cherring Tandup listed as many as 22 external injuries. The panel also put a note saying that “The number and description of the external injuries mentioned in this report may vary from the first postmortem examination report due to the artefacts caused by decompositional changes, previous postmortem examination, long preservation of dead body in freezer as well as use of preservative chemicals.”
In its “opinion”, the report mentioned in the “cause of death”, that “possibility of multiple firearm injuries resulting in haemorrhagic shock cannot be ruled out”.
Following the three hour postmortem which began at 11 am on Tuesday, the report said three bullets, each from “inner aspect of left arm, left flank and distorted metallic bullet fragment from right upper chest” were recovered from the body. It added that rest were left in situ (original place).
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