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Journalism of Courage
On April 10, 2018, the headless body of a man was found in bushes near an electric tower atop a small hillock in the Javasai village in Thane’s Ambernath.
The decapitated body with burnt skin gave the police little clue about the victim’s identity for nearly seven months. The Ambarnath police, with the help of forensic experts at KEM Hospital in Mumbai, identified the victim by reconstructing his face on the skull using 3D technology and later arrested the suspects in the case. He was small-time businessman Bindresh Prajapati, in his thirties, who had gone missing in April, that year.
As per the police, even though they found the head around 500 metres away a few hours after finding the body, the entire skin on it was burnt. The Thane district police claimed the face was de-skinned with a sharp weapon to conceal the victim’s identity. The police tried to identify the body through the tattoo on the right hand and the victim’s chappals. The police also checked missing complaints at all police stations for nearly six months. However, it did not give them any headway.
In October, the police decided to take the help of forensic experts at KEM Hospital, Parel, in Mumbai, who suggested that based on the skull pattern and burnt skin, they could digitally make a face resembling the deceased.
As per the police, Dr Harish Pathak and Dr Hemlata Panndey, the experts at the civic-run hospital, used Plaster of Paris (POP) to create a replica of the victim’s skull and to reconstruct the face on the skull.
Anthropometry techniques were used to measure special points to assess the face’s composition, size and shape. With the size of the skull, the nose, ears, lips and forehead could be measured and a 3D face was created after a month-long process through superimposition technology.
The police took printouts of the face and posted them in public places to identify the victim, leading them to some clues about the accused in the same area where the body was found.
In November 2018, the police got a call from someone who informed them about Bindresh, who had been missing since April of that year. Bindresh resided at Mahendranagar in Ambernath with his wife and two children.
The police claimed that when they went to Bindresh’s wife and questioned his wife about his whereabouts, she gave them confusing answers. Moreover, the police claimed that when they contacted Bindresh’s brother, he said that they had not lodged a police complaint as the victim’s wife kept misleading them.
The police said that the victim’s wife was in an alleged relationship with accused Kisankumar Kanojiya, their neighbour and Bindresh’s friend.
They claimed that after Bindresh learnt about the said relationship, he started assaulting his wife. On April 8, 2018, the victim’s wife and Kanojiya, with the help of another accused Rajesh Yadav, took Bindresh for drinking alcohol, said the police. When he was intoxicated, Kanojiya and Yadav allegedly killed him.
On December 8, 2018, Bindresh’s wife was arrested and Kanojiya and Yadav were arrested the next day on suspicion.
The Bombay High Court on February 1, 2021, granted bail to Yadav, noting that whether the statement recorded on December 12, 2018, of a person to whom the accused had made an extra-judicial confession can be relied upon or not can be decided during the trial in the case. It said the probe was complete, and a chargesheet was filed.
The high court granted Kanojiya bail on March 8 this year. The high court clarified that the trial court shall decide the case on its own merits, uninfluenced by the observations it had made.
