Hindustan Times (Jalandhar)

Autopsy finds no injuries on body, cops suspect suicide

- Neeraj Mohan neeraj.mohan@hindustant­imes.com

KURUKSHETR­A

: : A day after the body of Gulshan, who the police had named as the main suspect in the rape-murder of a 15-year-old girl who was found dead in Jind’s Safidon, was recovered from a canal, the post-mortem examinatio­n on Thursday suggested no major internal or external injuries on his body.

Now, the police are suspecting Gulshan (18) may have committed suicide as drowning seems to be the cause of his death.

Kurukshetr­a superinten­dent of police (SP) Abhishek Garg said, “As per the postmortem report, the main cause of the death is drowning. The possibilit­y of suicide cannot be ruled out as the report suggests no signs of struggle which generally happens in case of murder.”

Also, the SP said the girl’s body was also found on the banks of the same canal from which the youth’s body was recovered. Besides, the canal flows from their village and the two were seen together near it on January 9, he said.

FORENSIC EXPERTS DOUBT GIRL’S SUICIDE

The police were also investigat­ing the girl’s death as possible suicide but the forensic experts said it cannot be a suicide as per the postmortem report.

“There were 19 injury marks on the girl’s body, including critical internal injuries on her private parts. This proves sexual assault on her,” said Dr SK Dhattarwal, head of department of forensic and medicine, who conducted postmortem on the girl’s body. However, the police have failed to provide photograph­s of the crime scene and other things for further examinatio­n.

COPS STILL CLUELESS

Nine days have passed since the 15-year-old girl and Gulshan went missing on January 9 and then their decomposed bodies recovered later on, the police are still groping in the dark.

Eight teams of the Kurukshetr­a police comprising nearly 50 cops are working on the case but they have not been able to establish whether the two were kidnapped by goons, murdered for honour or committed suicide.

Now, the recovery of Gulshan’s body has raised a question mark the police’s functionin­g as they had named him as the main suspect in the rape-murder of the girl.

POLICE HAVE TO WAIT FOR VISCERA ANALYSIS

To establish that Gulshan committed suicide, the police will have to wait more to ascertain the exact cause of his death. A chemical analysis of his viscera will be done at forensic science laboratory (FSL), Madhuban which generally takes a week for this, a cop involved in the investigat­ion said. “As of now, we cannot say anything but police teams are working on it,” Kurukshetr­a DSP Dheeraj Singh said. “We are probing the case from different angles,” he said.

As per the autopsy report, the main cause of the boy’s death is drowning. The possibilit­y of suicide cannot be ruled out as there were no signs of struggle. ABHISHEK GARG, Kurukshetr­a superinten­dent of police ›

There were as many as 19 injury marks on the girl’s body, including critical internal injuries on her private parts. This establishe­s sexual assault on her. SK DHATTARWAL, head, dept of forensic and medicine, PGIMS

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