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Bullet in the head- crime surfaces from ashes!

2009; Indian Academy of Forensic Medicine; Volume: 31; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/0971097320090424

0974-0848

Luv Sharma, Pramod Paliwal, Basant Lal Sirohiwal,

Autopsy Techniques and Outcomes

Murder is as old as man is. The first recorded murder was of one of the sons of Adam,1 Abel who was murdered by his brother Cain. Since that fatal day, enumerable people have been made victims to the hand of homicide. Forensic experts come face to face with this aspect of civilization on a daily basis. With the advance of science, the methodology of murder has changed, yet the basic criminal intent of man to commit this sin remains the same. The murderer often tries to destroy all evidence of his act by disposing off the dead body. The usual methods are burial in a desolate place, throwing the body in a water source or burning it beyond recognition. The following paper relates to a case in which the victim was shot in the head, his body burnt near railway tracks and left as such. When the police recovered the dead body, it had no clue whatsoever regarding cause and manner of death. All that was left of the body were badly charred bones including skull and ashes. Careful autopsy revealed a bullet hole in the skull with recovery of a deformed and burnt bullet from ashes. The illustrations are self explanatory.