Body could have been rotting for months, had head injuries

NEW DELHI: The mystery over the death of a man whose body was found in Delhi Metro’s Airport Line tunnel on February 9 has deepened after an autopsy revealed he had died of head injuries.

The medical examination also found that the body could have been lying in the tunnel for seven months, police officers said on condition of anonymity.

Police recovered an identity card issued by a private company and found next to the body. The police suspect the ID belongs to another person and have called in company executives for questioning. Police also preserved DNA samples of the man.

“We have received the post- mortem report after a month as the body was highly decomposed. Doctors even visited the spot to establish the sequence of events. The report has revealed head injury but that could also be due to the fall from a shaft. It has become all the more complicated and we need an eyewitness (or someone) to identify the body to establish the sequence,” said a Delhi Police officer.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation staff noticed the body in the early hours of February 9, when train operations had ended and they were on a routine track inspection, police said. According to the DMRC, the area where the body was found is in an emergency shaft of a cross-passage, which opens at the ground level and is not in a regular operational area.

“Doctors said the body could have been there for as long as seven months. We are taking regular steps, which we follow in identification of a dead body. Unless the body is identified and his friends/family is questioned, it is difficult to come to any conclusion. That is why we are not closing the case and haven’t ruled out foul play,” the officer said.

The decomposed body was found inside a tunnel of the Delhi Metro’s airport line. The 22.7km airport line connects New Delhi railway station with Dwarka Sector 21. Except for the Dhaula Kuan-delhi Ridge stretch, the line is underground, running through tunnels that go as deep as 18 metres. Security and maintenance staff enter the tunnel through the gates at the end of the platforms, the keys of which are with the station controller.