Badaun case: CBI begins exhuming bodies

CBI sources say unless there is a compelling reason to do post-mortem elsewhere, the medical board will to conduct fresh autopsy near the graves

Need for fresh autopsy was felt after the postmortem report of the local doctor was only suggestive of rape without conclusively proving it

New Delhi: With the level of the Ganga river rising, the CBI has begun exhuming the bodies of the two teenagers who were allegedly gang-raped and found hanging from a tree in the Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh in May this year. The agency wants to conduct fresh autopsies on the bodies.

A medical board constituted by the CBI to look into the case had earlier planned to carry out the process on Sunday but in the wake of the rising levels of the river Ganga threatening to inundate the graves, the medical board decided to do so on Saturday.

CBI sources said the agency has made all the arrangements to conduct fresh autopsy near the graves. Unless there is a compelling reason to do post-mortem elsewhere, the medical board will undertake the process on the spot. Sources said the board of three-forensic experts has recommended that fresh autopsy was needed before forming any opinion in the case.

Following the recommendation, the CBI took permission from the appropriate authority to exhume the bodies and proceed with fresh postmortem. The Ganga river, which flows adjacent to the grave of the minors, is rising because of heavy rains in Uttarakhand. The need for fresh autopsy was felt after the postmortem report of the local doctor was only suggestive of rape without conclusively proving it. Highly-placed sources in the agency said the first post-mortem was conducted at night, which is usually against the laid down procedures. Post-mortem is not conducted after sunset except in emergency cases. The postmortem was conducted by a lady doctor who had apparently no prior experience of it, sources added.