Autopsy of Mauritius national in Delhi reveals ‘compression of neck’

The Mauritian man whose body was found on a pavement in east Delhi on March 18, may have died of the “compression of neck”, a medical board constituted to conduct the post-mortem examination has said in its report, police officers aware of the investigation in the case said on Monday.

Citing the autopsy report, the officers said that the doctors found a “a faintly visible ligature mark on the right side of neck”, indicating that the victim might have been strangled. The officers added that since the post-mortem report was inconclusive about the exact cause of death, they have decided to seek opinion of the medical and forensic experts from AIIMS and other medical institutes.

Till Monday, no first information report (FIR) was registered in the case.

On March 18 around 4.30pm, a Geeta Colony police station team was patrolling the streets when they spotted a decomposed body on a pavement at Geeta Colony underpass, and a bag left nearby. The bag contained a Mauritius passport, a flight ticket, some clothes, a packet of ‘prasad’ purchased from a shop at a Hanuman temple in north Delhi, and a pack of biscuits.

Based on the passport details, the deceased was identified as Bagwat Lutchmee, a Mauritius national, who had arrived in India on February 8, and was expected to fly back on May 5, deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) Rohit Meena had said after the recovery of the body.

“We are enquiring into the matter and taking necessary steps. As of now, it’s not clear how exactly the foreigner died. The autopsy report says that a ligature mark is found on the right side of his neck. If the person died of strangulation, the ligature marks should have been seen all around the neck. Also, no bones in the neck were found broken,” said a senior police officer, who asked not to be named.

According to the inquiry so far, the officers said, the tourist had visited the Mauritius embassy on February 22, seeking help from the officials as his ATM card was not working and he was not able to withdraw money. Then, his body was found on March 18. They added that the man’s activities in the intervening period were not known.

Investigators said the man was spotted alive in a CCTV footage from Geeta Colony area on March 8.

In another footage from the near the spot, where the body was found, a man was seen taking away the deceased’s mobile phone and foreign currency notes. It’s not clear whether the foreigner was dead at that time or not, the investigators said.

The police said that the family of the dead foreigner were yet to reach India, and claim his body.