Doctor who did autopsy on Nirupama was a novice

RANCHI - One of the doctors who performed the autopsy on Delhi journalist Nirupama Pathak, who is believed to have been honour killing, Thursday said he did not have the “requisite qualification” to conduct the post-mortem examination and he carried it out for the first time.

“I conducted the post-mortem (examination) first time in my life. I do not have the requisite qualification to conduct post-mortem. I conducted the examination at the instruction of civil surgeon P. Mohan,” K.P. Singh told reporters in Jharkhand’s Koderma district, about 200 km from here.

Nirupama was found dead at her home in Koderma April 29.

Koderma Superintendent of Police G. Kranti Kumar sought explanation from the civil surgeon of Koderma on why the viscera (internal soft organs of the body) and foetus of 23-year-old Nirupama were not preserved.

According to police sources, the three-doctor team that conducted the post-mortem did not mention the time of the death of the scribe. They also did not preserve the viscera and foetus which was important for the investigation. The foetus could have disclosed the identity of the father.

Police also questioned the maternal uncles of Nirupama.

Jharkhand police have broadened the investigation and one of its teams is in New Delhi to interrogate Priyabhanshu Ranjan, the boyfriend of Nirupama.

The police are also looking for Priyabhanshu’s parents and other family members.

Police have arrested Sudha Devi, mother of Nirupama. The journalist’s father and brothers were also being questioned in what some believe to be a case of “honour killing”.

Police said the mother was not revealing much.

The family insists that Nirupama committed suicide. But the post-mortem examination revealed she was murdered by smothering and that she was 10-12 weeks pregnant.

The family has admitted that they were opposed to Nirupama’s planned marriage with Priyabhanshu, her former batchmate at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), who belonged to lower caste.

Nirupama’s brother Samrendra demanded that Priyabhanshu be arrested and a rape case be lodged against him.