Pradeep Kumar Mishra

Serial murder: An unusual stereotype

Serial murders attract attention from the media, mental health experts, academia, and the general public. We present a case of serial murders that took place in a limited area and which caused public anxiety and anguish in central India. All the victims were homeless beggars, who were bludgeoned to death (crush injury). Individual murders were initially investigated by different police stations; fortunately, since they sent all the bodies to a common autopsy centre, a forensic pathologist was able to link all the cases, the first person to do so. This emphasises the need for sharing information among police stations and autopsy centres.

Profile of Death in Burn Cases: A Post-mortem Study

Deaths due to fire or burns usually result from application of dry heat to the body. In India there are several thousands of deaths occurring due to fire or burns. Unfortunately vast majority of these cases occur in the home and are due to smoking, defective electrical wiring, defective kerosene stove bursts, attempted suicides by self-immolation, homicidal burns of young women by husband or in-laws (Dowry deaths/bride burning). The present study was based on retrospective analysis of burn cases in the period from January 2013 to December 2013 from autopsies done in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, SAIMS Medical College & PG Institute, Indore, M.P. It was observed that more than half of the victims died of burn injuries were married women. Females are mostly involved in cooking and most common cause is accidental burn. Burns having total body surface area (TBSA) more than 40% were fatal. The different aspects of burn deaths are analyzed and discussed in detail.

A Case Report an Apple a Day, Can Make it Your Last Day

Asphyxial death is one of the commonest modes of death which may be homicidal, suicidal or accidental in nature. Accidental death is defined as unexpected or unplanned event that may result in death. Asphyxia refers as lack of oxygen in blood & tissues due to impaired or absence of exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide leading to death. Choking is a form of asphyxia caused by mechanical occlusion within various sites of air passages by foreign object. It is more common among those people who laugh and talk during their meal, when food is accidentally inhaled. Choking of both organic and non-organic foreign bodies continues to be a common cause of mortality, requiring prompt recognition and early treatment to minimize the potentially serious and sometimes fatal consequences. The other most common cause of aspiration is general anaesthesia with full stomach or when patient is unconscious, under any intoxication or drowsiness. Such a case is brought to casualty of Sri Aurobindo Medical College and PG Institute, Indore with the history of drowsiness due to severe acute diarrhoea. At first site this case appeared a case of food poisoning but autopsy revealed that, it is a case of aspiration of mashed apple, which the deceased had consumed just before the death.

An Autopsy Evaluation of Defense Wounds in Homicidal Deaths

Evidence of defense wound indicates that the victim was awake and has resisted the offence. Absence of defense wound does not rule out homicide. On the contrary, absence of defense wounds in majority of cases clearly indicated that the victim was present in a place where he never anticipated risk to his life and was caused by a person who had an easy access to the place of crime, or the victim was asleep, unaware, unprepared or under the influence of alcohol/drugs. The present study was based on retrospective analysis of 218 homicidal deaths in three years period from January 2004 to December 2006 from autopsies done in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal and Medico legal Institute, Home (Police) department, Government of Madhya Pradesh. Among total 218 cases included in this study, defense wound was evident in 73 cases i.e. 32.48%, of which 60.3% were on hand and 13.7% were on forearm and 26% were on both forearm and hand region. Defence wound was more common on left side (45.2%) than right (17.8%), because these are nearest to the perpetrator and consistent with the preponderance of right handed individuals in the population. In 37% cases it was present on both sides. The pattern of defense wound is discussed in detail in this paper.