Karnataka man attacked by cow vigilantes died of cardiac arrest: initial postmortem report

The Ramanagara police are yet to arrest any of the suspects in the case, including the leader of the outfit Puneeth Kerehalli, a self-styled right-wing activist, and at least four of his accomplices.

A post-mortem conducted after the body was found on the morning of April 1, revealed that a cardiac arrest was the cause of death while no major external injuries that could have led to the death had been found, police sources added.

“The post-mortem report has been kept pending and they have said that it will be given once an FSL report is obtained. After the murder case was registered a panel of doctors was created and a post-mortem was conducted. After the (entire) post-mortem report is available the cause of death will be known,” Ramanagara Superintendent of Police Karthik Reddy said.

“We have formed four teams and are investigating the cases. Our teams are trying to find him (Kerehalli). There is talk that he has been uploading videos to Facebook (since the incident). As of now, he is absconding and we are trying to track him down,” Reddy said at a press interaction in Ramanagara on Tuesday.

Forensic experts said that the role of stun guns or tasers that were being frequently used by the cow vigilante group headed by Kerehalli to shock and immobilise their victims would have to be ascertained through further forensic studies.

Reports from around the US where stun guns are used by law enforcement agencies suggest a linkage between stun guns and cardiac arrests and many cases with no visible sign of external injuries to suggest a cause of death. The medical literature on taser-linked deaths suggests that risks are higher in people with heart ailments.

According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the victim’s brother Yunus Pasha in the murder case, he said he was informed by Syed Zaheer, 40, the driver of the truck that was transporting cattle reportedly with documentation to Tamil Nadu, that his brother was chased and attacked by the vigilante Kerehalli and his associates after the truck was stopped near the Santhemala Circle in Sathnur.

The FIR says the cow vigilantes attempted to extort Rs 2 lakh from Zaheer, Pasha, and a third individual Irfan, who were in the cattle truck that was stopped. The three men were abused and beaten up when they refused to pay the extortion amount, says the FIR.

When the men in the truck tried to run, Zaheer and Irfan were allegedly caught by the vigilantes and taken to the Sathanur police station while Pasha was beaten and killed according to the FIR filed by Yunus on the basis of what was told to him by Zaheer. Pasha was found dead near a bush in a crumpled position with his face down at around 8 am on April 1.

The victim’s brother told The Indian Express that he found burn marks on the chest of his brother after the body was recovered. “I suspect Idrees was assaulted badly and then given electric shocks to kill him. The police officials are not telling us anything,” he said.

The police have also indicated that a stun gun may have been used to prevent Pasha from escaping which could have led to his death.

In some videos uploaded on his social media accounts prior to the April 1 murder, Kerehalli is seen carrying a baseball bat as well as a stun gun while intercepting vehicles carrying cattle.

“The use of stun guns can cause cardiac arrest through fibrillation. It, however, depends on the amount of shock delivered. There could be a few visible signs of impact on the body when stun guns are used,” a government forensic expert in Bengaluru said.

Studies in other parts of the world have shown that the use of force coupled with that of stun guns can cause death. A study published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation in 2012 found Tasers can cause “ventricular arrhythmias, sudden cardiac arrest, and even death.”

Over 1000 deaths in the US from 2000 to the end of 2018 have been linked to the use of stun guns, specifically Tasers, by an online tracker for deaths involving Tasers in the US that was created by Reuters. No deaths linked to the use of stun guns have been recorded in Karnataka so far.