J&K: Forensic experts claim engineering students’ death was ‘pre-planned homicide’

J&K Police had claimed Owais had died as a result of a scuffle after he learnt Ishaan’s true identity during his first face-to-face meeting.

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“There was a exchange of hot words and a scuffle during which Ishaan pushed Owais on the railway track injuring him seriously and then kicking him on his belly and other parts of the body many a time leaving him in a pool of blood,” Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Kashmir, Ghulam Hassan Bhat had said during a press conference.

Though the police had said Owais died after “he rolled down into a gorge” and “hit his head on a stone” during the fight, a doctor who conducted autopsy of the deceased dismissed the police version as a “fictional tale” and ruled out that Owais had merely died of the fall and subsequent injuries during the reported scuffle.

“It was neither a suicide nor an accidental death. It was a homicide and the body had visible torture marks and the right ear and arm had also been cut. There was a squared burn mark on his thigh and no dog bite marks were found on the body. We have to prove our findings before the court and cannot go by the police version,” the doctor who was part of the postmortem said on condition of anonymity.

Officials said that a team of four doctors from the Government Medical College Srinagar and Budgam district hospital had conducted the postmortem of the deceased in the hospital and the autopsy report was likely to be submitted to the health department and police in next few days.

“The case was so complicated that it required forensic experts. Autopsy was conducted in the hospital and the organs were sent for forensic examination to GMC. The report is awaited,” Dr Gazalla Tabasum, Medical Superintendent of Budgam district hospital said.

DIG Bhat said the accused has been booked under section 302 and the police had never said the death was accidental. “302 means willfully killing a person and the marks on his [Owais’s] chest were because he was attacked and handled by dogs. Dog had not bitten him but only left scratches on his chest” he said.

“I can comment only when I see the report and doctors have to explain what they are saying. We cannot accept it as a gospel truth and are within our rights to ask for any clarification. Let the medical report come to me and I can give explanation for every injury,” he said.

The family of the murdered student said they had earlier too questioned the police version. “We have always maintained the murder is not work of a single person and police announced its findings in haste then. My son was physically strong than the guy arrested by police. The forensic report has only proved our point,” Bashir Malik, Owais’s father said.

Ishaan has been named as main accused in the murder case and was arrested along with three Railway Police personnel. According to police, they allegedly had thrown the body away from the railway track to save themselves from the charge of dereliction of duty.

The accused Ishaan’s father Abdul Majeed said that his son had not even left home that day and it was impossible for him to inflict so much torture on the person who was stronger than him.

“My son had recently undergone surgery in his eyes and nose. If there was a fight between the two, why did Ishaan had no injury. This all sounds filmy but I have trust on my son,” Majeed said.