Exhume body and file report, says Madras High Court

Chennai: Following the allegation of foul play in the death of a person in Coimbatore district, Madras High Court has directed the authorities to exhume his body and file a report before the court. Justice M.S. Ramesh gave the directive on a petition filed by the wife of the deceased Sundarajan, who died on June 12, 2017. The judge said initially the petitioner and her family members were under the impression that the cause of her husband’s death was natural. Subsequently, she was apprised of certain facts by which she felt that the death of her husband could have been caused due to the threat and harassment made by two persons namely Selvalakshmi and Dhanalakshmi.

Since no action was taken on her complaint from the police, she moved a court in Avinashi and on the direction of the court an FIR was registered. Incidentally, she also found an empty bottle of pesticide and a tumbler under the bed of the deceased. According to her, the death could have been caused due to the consuming of poison. However, since at the time of death, they were under the impression that it was natural death, there was no necessity to conduct a post-mortem and subsequently, the body was buried in Avinashi. The counsel for the petitioner also produced an audio CD and a set of papers containing the conversations in the CD, which clearly reveals that there was a threat caused to the deceased by the two persons. In this background, unless the cause of death was ascertained, a proper investigation cannot be conducted. In view of the subsequent developments of finding of telephone conversations and empty pesticide bottle under the bed of the deceased, the cause of death now becomes relevant.  

“I am of the view that a post-mortem is necessarily required to ascertain the cause of death. Hence, there shall be a direction to exhume of the body of Sundararajan on or before November 15 and it should be done under the supervision of the Professor and HOD, Department of Forensic Medicines, Coimbatore Medical College and necessary exhumation report shall also be filed before this court. The process of exhumation shall be done in the presence of the RDO, Tirupur. The authorities shall also ensure that after the exhumation, a decent burial is given to the body of Sundararajan”, the judge added and posted to November 16, further hearing of the case.