Mob that killed 9 used common weapons, targetted head & face
New Delhi: While the murders of over 53 people during the February riots in north-east Delhi had already given a rough idea on the horrors that the victims might have faced in their last moments, as the Delhi Police file chargesheets in these cases, the attached postmortem reports of the victims now reveal the extent of brutality with which some of them were murdered.
According to three chargesheets filed against members of the mob led by Lokesh Solanki, who had allegedly used a WhatsApp group to coordinate the murders of Muslims during the riots, the postmortem reports of victims show that most were beaten to death with a mix of blunt objects like clubs, cudgels, rods, lathis and some sharp objects like axes and had received extensive blows, in some cases, exclusively to their heads and faces.
On February 25, at about 9.30 PM, Aamin was killed by the rioters and thrown in the Bhagirathi Vihar drain. He was on foot coming from Brijpuri Puliya when he was attacked and murdered. The external examination of his body revealed chilling details. "We are of the considered opinion that most of the injuries sustained by the deceased could be caused by heavy blunt objects like iron rod or heavy lathi. Further, the fracture of the lower jaw associated with a hematoma (blood clot in tissue) on the right part of the face could also be caused due to heavy blunt objects like baseball bat/heavy bricks or heavy stones, etc," the Delhi Police chargesheet quotes the opinion of the board of autopsy surgeons. According to doctors, the cause of death was head injuries inflicted with blunt force impact and its resultant complication.
As per the postmortem report, a linear and undisplaced fracture of 14cm was present near the back of Aamin's head and a Diffused sub-scalp haematoma was present in the frontal part of his head. Apart from that, there were more than 10 lacerated wounds on his body.
Hamza was killed by the Hindu mob on February 26 at about 9.15 pm. He was murdered and like Aamin was thrown in the Bhagirathi Vihar drain. The board of autopsy surgeons opined that "blunt force" had caused infliction of such injuries that could have been inflicted with heavy blunt weapons such as an axe, bricks, flat and broadened wooden frame, etc.
Among the nature of injuries, several large (wound of size 15 cm x 10 cm x bone deep) bone-deep lacerations were observed on Hamza's head, just one of which medical examiners believed was individually sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature.
As per the doctors' report, the cause of death is believed to be cranio-cerebral damage. "Extradural haemorrhage (blood clot between brain and skull) is seen over the right side of the cerebral region, and subdural haemorrhage (internal bleeding of the brain) and subarachnoid haemorrhage is seen over left cerebral hemisphere region of the brain," read the ME's report, which added that lacerated wounds with irregular margins were seen in varying sizes all over the head.
Hours before Hamza was killed, Bhure Ali had become the victim of the Lokesh Solanki-led mob around 10.30 AM and was killed while he was coming from the Brijpuri Puliya on foot. The autopsy report concluded that Bhure Ali was also killed due to blunt force impact caused by objects like an axe, iron rod or lathis and added that multiple lacerated wounds and contusions were among other injuries that he sustained. The cause of death was ruled as head injury and complications due to blunt force impact.
