Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) electrical department’s report has left the ‘heart attack’ theory in tatters and left three departments — NMC, Nagpur police, and GMCH forensics — red-faced as their attempt to shield a Gujarat-based contractor stands exposed in the death of a 60-year-old woman, Afroz Begum, who fell in an electrified water-filled pit in Auliya Nagar last week.The blatant attempt to shield the contractor was helped by a botched ‘panchnama’ of Sakkardara police. Contended with the ‘heart attack’ theory, police did not even send an electrical inspector to the spot and report even after a week.Police have come under scanner for failing to share the electrical inspector’s report with the forensic department, raising serious questions about whether the lapses were aimed at shielding the Gujarat-based contractor.Sources from Govt Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), where the autopsy was performed last week, stated the Sakkardara police had submitted a panchnama of the spot without mentioning details where the body was found. “The panchnama had no mention of the damaged cables in the water-filled pit. This life-threatening detail should not have been omitted. There was a single line mentioned in the panchnama that some people at the spot were talking about electrocution,” the top source stated. The panchnama did not have the description of the place, circumstances, or the situation under which the body of the elderly lady was found.“This faulty panchanama was presented to the autopsy experts of Government Medical College and Hospital who conducted the autopsy. Police orally informed the GMCH forensic experts about the possible electrocution angle,” said a source.While GMCH forensics attributed the death to heart attack in the post-mortem report, NMC’s electrical department’s findings have revealed damaged live cables and snapped wires lying in the water at the site. This stark contradiction has exposed glaring lapses in the procedural norms followed by police.“A panchnama is a vital document prepared in the presence of witnesses that records the exact scene of the incident, position of the body, and surrounding conditions. It is essential for forensic experts to correlate external injuries with the scene,” said a retired senior police officer. The contrasting reports have now led to major embarrassment for the three departments and their blatant ignorance has been exposed.Zonal DCP Rashmitha Rao, in a message, stated she may consider sending the NMC’s electrical report to the forensic department and raise a further query.According to a top forensic expert, the cops should now seek a fresh query report from the autopsy team and ask for an associated cause of death. “Preserving a skin and sending it for a forensic analysis in a wet electrocution case like the latest one is a wrong process. In wet electrocution, the skin cannot tell whether it had an electrocution as there was no resistance. Police and forensic mutually botched up the case in an irreversible manner,” the expert said.
