Friday, November 7, 2008

Rahul Raj Shot at Close Range, Says Autopsy


Hollowing claims made by the Congress-NCP Maharashtra state government, in the aftermath of the ‘encounter’ of Rahul Raj, the autopsy conducted by a four-member panel of forensic experts at Mumbai’s JJ Hospital on Thursday confirmed that he was shot from very close range.

The panel of doctors which conducted the post mortem on Raj revealed that there were five bullet entry wounds on his body, all in the chest and head region. However, there were only four exit wounds as one bullet was recovered from the body.

The experts also confirmed that at least 12-13 rounds of bullets were fired by the Mumbai Police team in a bid to end the BEST bus hijack drama.

The autopsy report has not been made official and the panel of doctors will shortly submit it to the government.

The findings of the post-mortem could complicate things for the Maharashtra government and Mumbai Police, which is already under scanner for allegedly killing the 23-year-old youth from Bihar.

The finding is also expected to give credence to the allegations levelled by the Bihar government and Rahul Raj’s parents that Mumbai Police could have easily captured him, and there was no need to kill him.

The Police brass in the state had earlier supported the stand taken by the cops and warned that anybody trying to take law in his hands would also meet the same result.

Rahul Raj was killed by Mumbai Police when he tried to take a BEST bus hostage on gun point in order to send a strong message to MNS Chief Raj Thackeray for his party’s treatment to the North Indians.

The incident draw sharp reactions Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who alleged that it was wrong to shoot down Raj could and he could have been caught alive.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also spoke to the Maharashtra CM, Vilas Rao Deshmukh, and asked him to insure the safety of all sections so that incidents like this are not repeated in the future.

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