December 16 rape case, bite-mark analysis: How Bulandshahr cops solved blind murder
The ASP said that meanwhile, the needle of suspicion pointed to a family member who had been changing his statement frequently.
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(Left) The tubewell room in front of which the farmer’s body was found; (Right) bite marks of the accused taken on a potato for forensic analysis. On May 25, Bulandshahr police found farmer Mahaveer Singh, 70, lying dead on a cot, in front of a tubewell room surrounded by farms, in Surjawali village. He had been strangled. Among several injuries on the body, one stood out — a bite mark. Police, however, could not find the killer.
“Initially, it was a blind murder case, we did not have evidence to lead us to the culprit — there was no CCTV in the village…and call detail record analysis of the man’s kin led us nowhere. We questioned around 50 persons but to no avail. The deceased used to give money on interest, but the killer had taken away all bank-related records. The family raised suspicion over a person, but he was at a different place at the time,” said Anukriti Sharma, ASP Bulandshahr, who led the probe.
“We found three bite marks on the body. I remembered the December 16, 2012, gangrape case, where bite marks were used as evidence. So, we contacted a forensic odontology expert at the National Forensic Science University in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. After analysis, the expert said one of the two middle teeth in the lower arch is protruding outwards,” said the officer.
The ASP said that meanwhile, the needle of suspicion pointed to a family member who had been changing his statement frequently.
“We called Singh’s wife, his two sons and the elder son’s daughter and asked them to bite a potato. As per the expert, the bite mark of the elder son, Raju, and the one on the body looked similar. We sent Raju to the district hospital, where they created a dental cast. We sent a photo of it to the expert, who said all the teeth, except one, matched the bite mark on the victim’s body,” said Sharma.
She further said the anomaly can be understood as Raju chewed betel nuts.
“We did a medical test on Raju and the report showed nail marks on his body. We took him in for questioning, where he revealed he had taken Rs 1 lakh from someone and approached his father on May 24 to help him pay it back. His father refused. Angered, Raju started beating him. His father tried to defend himself with a darati (sickle), but Raju found a shoelace, hanging from the ceiling, and strangled him. After the murder, he covered the body with sheets and put a mosquito net over it to make it seem like he was asleep,” added the officer.
Raju had been in jail earlier in a dowry death case, said police.
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