Bites on girl throat, says doc

- Second youth detained in Nadia rape and murder, MLA faces ire

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Bimal after his arrest.
Picture by Pranab Debnath

Gede (Nadia), June 12: Doctors who conducted the post-mortem on the schoolgirl allegedly gang-raped and murdered in Nadia said today that it appeared one of her attackers had bitten her throat, causing a deep injury.

"There are a number of deep bite marks on the throat," said a doctor of the district hospital in Krishnagar associated with the post-mortem. He said the marks suggest "that someone tried to bite into her throat". "However, the attempt failed and the death occurred from strangulation. There are strangulation marks on the throat," the doctor said.

Rape has not been confirmed as forensic tests are being done on samples taken from the body. The reports are awaited.

The Telegraph spoke to forensic medicine experts not associated with the case who said human bites on the neck are unlikely to cause death of a victim unless the perpetrator's teeth are long and sharp enough to cut through layers of muscles and tissue to reach the carotid artery sheath.

"As far as we know, only animals have long penetrating teeth to do this," said Suresh Shetty, a professor of forensic medicine at the Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore.

However, intense pressure on the carotid arteries or stimulation of the vagus nerve located deep in the carotid sheath may cause death, which would not be from bites, but from hand pressure used to hold down the victim. "Sufficient (hand) pressure to squeeze the carotid may cause asphyxia," said Narinder Aggrawal, head of forensic medicine at the University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

The Class VII girl, a resident of Gede in Nadia, close to the India-Bangladesh border, was standing under the shed of a shop on Monday afternoon to avoid getting drenched in the rain on her way back home from school when local youth Bimal Sardar offered her his umbrella.

Yesterday, the girl's body was found in a bamboo grove near her home. Police arrested Bimal yesterday. He was produced in the chief judicial magistrate's court in Krishnagar and remanded in five days' police custody today.

According to the police, Bimal has confessed that he and two other youths raped the girl. One of them was Bishu Sardar, a distant relative, now absconding.

Deputy superintendent of police (headquarters), Dibyajyoti Das, said Bimal told them he harboured a grudge against the girl as she once threw her sandal at him. The police are sceptical about the account.

"Bimal told us that he had a grudge against the girl because she threw her sandal at him near a football ground on Friday when he told her that a friend of Bishu Sardar wanted to marry her. But we doubt his statement. How is it possible for a girl who threw a sandal at someone to accompany him under the same umbrella?" Das said.

The police yesterday also detained Bimal's uncle Netai and learnt that Bishu, who had come to visit his house, had brought with him a youth named Bharat Sardar. The police picked up Bharat from Hogolberia, 50km from Gede, this morning. Bimal identified him as the third youth.

An investigating officer said: "We have come to know that Bimal had planned to bury the body the next morning (Tuesday) and sought the help of Netai, who asked two other youths to help Bimal. But before they could bury the girl, the body was found."

Bimal, 22, is a Class III dropout. His father Gour was a labourer in Uttarpara, the village in Gede where the crime happened. Bimal sometimes worked as a labourer. He also helped Netai run a hooch den in the area.

Last November, Bimal got married to 20-year-old Pinki Sardar. Both Bimal's father and wife have fled the village.

Today, when Trinamul MLA Sushil Biswas visited the girl's home and said the state would bear the cost of the her brother's education and give him a job later, residents demanded an undertaking in writing. "Likhito diye jaan. Ekhon voter agey bole eto katha boltey eshechhen (Give an assurance in writing. You are saying these things because the election is near)," a woman told him. Biswas left the spot in a hurry.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130613/jsp/bengal/story_17002545.jsp#.UbngD-eBlA0

ADDITIONAL INPUTS BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT IN DELHI

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