‘Lottery’ Martin’s longtime employee Palanisamy, who was found dead in a pond in Coimbatore, might not have died due to suicide. The first of the three doctors appointed by the Madras High Court to conduct the second autopsy on Palanisamy’s body submitted his report on Tuesday.
Martin’s longtime associate Palanisamy’s body was found in a pond in Karamadai in the outskirts of Coimbatore on May 3 hours after he was questioned by the officials from the Income Tax department. The police had registered an FIR in the case for unnatural death. However, days after Palanisamy’s body was discovered, his son Rohin Kumar filed a petition with the Coimbatore Chief Judicial Magistrate, expressing doubts over his father’s death. Alleging that the Income Tax officials harassed and physically abused his father, he requested a fair trial into his father’s death.
Palanisamy’s family also moved the Madras High Court seeking the autopsy to be performed again. The court allowed the plea and appointed a panel of three doctors – Dr Sampath Kumar of Ramachandra University, Dr Gokul Ram of Salem Medical College and Dr Rajesh of Kanyakumari Medical College – to conduct post mortem again on Palanisamy’s body. The court directed the panel of doctors to submit reports about two injuries on Palanisamy’s body with comments on whether those injuries were caused before his death or after his death.
Dr Sampath Kumar submitted his report on Tuesday before the magistrate court in Coimbatore. Speaking to TNM, Rohin Kumar’s advocate Sathya Balan said that Dr Sampath had ruled out suicide as the cause of Palanisamy’s death. “He has specifically mentioned that the injuries on Palanisamy’s body did not indicate suicide. He has also mentioned that Palanisamy could have died due asphyxiation or strangulation, thereby indicating a possible murder as the cause of his death,” Sathya Balan told.
The court will issue appropriate orders on the case based on all three reports submitted by the panel of doctors.
Source: The News Minute