Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: The investigations into Siddhi Naik death case seem to be turning murkier as the police and doctors, who conducted the autopsy, now blaming each other for declaring death as suicide.
The three-member Expert Committee led by Dr Wiseman Pinto submitted its report on Tuesday to GMC Dean, which said the police need to investigate the matter further as the cause of death was drowning, and they need to find a manner of drowning.
To make matters worse, Dr Andre Fernandes, who supervised the initial autopsy and was also a member of the three-member Expert Committee, refused to say that the doctors certified death as suicide.
He told a national newspaper TOI on Wednesday, “This is also always specifically mentioned on the police/magistrate equest for conducting an autopsy, whether the request is to ascertain the cause of death,” Fernandes stated in his report.
“It is not the role of the autopsy surgeon to certify the manner of death as he or she examines only the body of the deceased produced for medical-legal autopsy,” he said.
However, experts now ask why Dr Andre, who supervised the autopsy, did not preserve the viscera?
“There were bruises on the body, and the clothes were missing. So was it not the duty of the senior doctor to consult the family, police on preserving viscera. Or he just worked as an office clerk by signing documents blindly without going into detail?” said an expert refusing to be named.
He said Dr Andre could not shy away from teh responsibility.
“He is very much to be blamed as much as police. He certified death as drowning without raising any suspicion. Which he should have done since it was a medico-legal autopsy,” said the expert.
The police, too, now blame the doctors for misguiding them on the cause of death.
A police officer, speaking to Goemkarponn, said they declared the death as suicide as the autopsy report clearly mentioned “death due to drowning,” and no suspicions were raised.
Who is responsible for scuttling investigations?
Going by the report, the SP North Shobit Saxena also declared the death was a hundred per cent due to drowning.
Now due to negligence of the police and the doctors, it would be challenging for the investigations any further.
There is no viscera, swab saved for further investigations, and the autopsy says death due to drowning.