Homicide represented as sudden natural death: A case report

Abstract

In many instances, unnatural deaths are often presumed by family members/relatives to be due to natural causes like heart attack and stroke and vice-versa in also true sometimes. This is especially common amongst the rural folk where concealed/occult fatal injuries may not be appreciable to the naked eyes or when the dead body is found in circumstances not seen by any eye-witness or where no foul play is suspected. Often, sudden death is deliberately made up by family members to be on account of heart attack in order to conceal the crime committed by someone from amongst the family members. We encountered such a case wherein a 35 year old male individual who was working in the fields of a village was found dead early in the morning on the fateful day by family members. The family members were taking the dead body for performing final rites but someone from the village informed the Police that the death was due to some foul act, as injury was appreciable over the neck. The Police prepared the inquest Report and forwarded the body for autopsy at General Hospital, though the relatives were reluctant to have autopsy on the body claiming it to be a case of sudden natural death. The Medical Officers at General Hospital noticed some injuries over the body and explained to the relatives that it was not a case of sudden natural death. However, the relatives were not agreeing upon the impression of the Medical Officers regarding the cause of death and they were adamant to label it a case of sudden natural death. Ultimately, the Medical Officers had to refer the body for examination by experts of Forensic Medicine at our Institute. The autopsy done at our Institute revealed the truth. The details of the injuries and other important findings noticed in this case will be discussed in this paper.