The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Confusion reigns supreme in Prashant Reddy case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 17, 2007
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Confusion reigns supreme in Prashant Reddy case

According to experts, a man can shoot himself by keeping the arm a few inches away from the body, says Marri Ramu

No other case in recent times has raised so many doubts as the mysterious ‘murder’ of real estate businessman Prashant Reddy. He died of a gun shot wound in the house of Congress leader K. Keshava Rao’s son K. Venkat Rao against whom a murder case has been registered.

Unlike other mysterious cases, confusion reigned supreme in Reddy’s case from the beginning because of inconclusive evidence to prove that he was murdered. Was it a homicide or a suicide? Only after answering this crucial question can the investigators proceed to the next stage of catching the accused responsible for the death.

Speculation

There is no dispute over Reddy dying of a single bullet fired from the licensed .32 revolver of Rao. But the question is who fired it? Forensic doctors confirmed there were no cherry-red blood stains and singing or scorching marks around the wound suggesting that it was not a contact shot. Does absence of contact shot mean Reddy’s death was a homicide? Interestingly, experts say a man can shoot himself with a firearm by keeping it a few inches away from the body. Such different possibilities deepen the mystery behind Reddy’s death. Forensic doctors say they don’t have a database to analyse the absence of a contact shot in suicide cases involving a firearm.

Cadaver spasm - a state of stiffening of muscles seen in cases of sudden death especially in gun shot cases - was not reported in Reddy’s case. If a cadaver spasm was reported, the weapon would have been in the grip of the victim’s hand if he fired the bullet himself.

Some investigators argue the absence of singing or scorching marks around the wound should be examined vis-À-vis nature of the firearm. “It would be better to test fire the weapon used in the crime with same type of bullet and compare the observations with the nature of the gun shot wound on the victim and the photographs taken,” a police officer observed. In this backdrop, swabs collected from the hands of the victim and the accused to find traces of gun shot residue became crucial.

Corrections and clarifications

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail