Constable death: Row builds over body of evidence
Controversy continued to surround the death of Delhi police constable Subhash Tomar, who was injured during the protests at India Gate. While eyewitnesses and a senior hospital official claimed there were no external injuries, the first post-mortem examination report, released Wednesday, indicated he died of a heart attack triggered by neck and chest injuries.
Tomar had collapsed during violent demonstrations again-st the brutal gangrape of a 23-year-old woman. He died at RML Hospital Tuesday.
According to the post-mortem, Tomar died of “myocardial infarction and its complications that coul-d be precipitated by multiple ante-mortem injuries to neck and chest produced by blunt force impact”. The crime branch has taken over the investigation.
The post-mortem report stated that the constable’s “third, fourth and fifth ribs on the left side had fractures and there was mid-calibaculur bleeding at several places”. The police claimed that “effusion of blood was present in tissues and neck muscles and ante-mortem injuries were caused when the body suffered heavy blows from a blunt object”. “He had a lot of injuries. His ribs had fractures. These multiple injuries aggravated his condition and led to cardiac arrest,” ACP (New Delhi) K.C. Dwivedi said.
Before the post-mortem, Dr T.S. Sidhu, MS of RML Hospital, had said, “There was no major external injury mark except for some cuts and bruises. He came in a state of total collapse. Our doctors revived him.” Dr Sidhu has been asked to appear before the police with Tomar’s medical records .
An eyewitness, journalism student Yogendra, had claimed the constable had collapsed while walking. Another protester claimed they had taken off his shirt when he collapsed and there were no injury marks. The TV footage appeared to contradict the police’s claim, showing Tomar lying on the street and being helped by two protesters. There seemed to be no crowd around him.
A senior forensic doctor, however, said the post-mortem report does not suggest that he was injured by the mob.
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