Forensic Toxicology Anil Aggrawal's Science Reporter's Articles on Forensic Toxicology Hi, I am Professor Anil Aggrawal from India. I am working as a Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi-110002, India. I love to exchange ideas on Forensic Medicine, Forensic Pathology and Forensic Toxicology. I love writing books on science, and have published nine books so far. I love reading and writing science fiction, especially that related to forensic medicine. Anyone wishing to exchange ideas with me on forensic medicine, science, and science fiction is welcome. I have been writing popular articles on Forensic Medicine, Forensic Pathology and Forensic Toxicology in some of the most popular magazines and periodicals in India. I love talking to young intelligent students on matters of forensic science. One of my most memorable experiences was when I talked on "Forensic Engineering" to a group of highly intelligent students at IIT, Bombay in February 2002. The students were fantastic; I thoroughly enjoyed being with them and talking to them on this confluence of the two specialties. The students appeared to enjoy my slides and animations too. S cience Reporter is a monthly science magazine, which gives articles of scientific interest on a variety of subjects. This magazine was started in post independent India in 1952 and is published uninterrupted since then. It is published by the National Institute of Science Communication, New Delhi. The full address of the magazine is: THE EDITOR SCIENCE REPORTER National Institute of Science Communication (CSIR) Dr. K.S. Krishnan Marg New Delhi-110 012 INDIA F rom January 1997, I started a new series, POISON SLEUTHS which appeared as a monthly column from January 1997 till April 2001. It proved highly popular among lay people and scientists alike. It was in the form of a dialogue between an intelligent and curious 15 year old, and an expert forensic pathologist. IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED BY THE AUTHOR AND MAY NOT BE REPOSTED, REPRINTED OR OTHERWISE USED IN ANY MANNER WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR Anil Aggrawal's Science Reporter's 1997 Articles on Forensic Toxicology Poisons, antidotes & anecdotes (January 1997) Arsenic: The king of Poisons (February 1997) The myth of the Spanish Fly (March 1997) Boron Poisoning (April 1997) Silver Poisoning (June 1997) Vanadium Poisoning (July 1997) Methyl Bromide Poisoning (August 1997) Poisoning by Ratti Seeds (September 1997) Poisoning by Thallium (October 1997) Poisoning by Capsaicin (November 1997) Death by Lysol (December 1997) Anil Aggrawal's Science Reporter's 1998 Articles on Forensic Toxicology Death by Phosgene (January 1998) Death by SMFA (February 1998) Common Salt (March 1998) Iodine (April 1998) Barium (May 1998) Selenium (June 1998) Death by DNOC (July 1998) Death by Cadmium (August 1998) Death by Aluminium Phosphide (October 1998) Argemone mexicana (November 1998) Death by Sodium chlorate (December 1998) Death by Argemone Oil Anil Aggrawal's Science Reporter's 1999 Articles on Forensic Toxicology Death by Sodium Nitrite (January 1999) Death by Potassium Permanganate (February 1999) Death by Diesel fumes (March 1999) Death by Arsine gas (April 1999) Death by Alfatoxin (May 1999) Death by Nitric Acid (June 1999) Death by Oxalic Acid (July 1999) Death by Digitalis (August 1999) Death by Yellow Kaner (September 1999) Death by Vitamin A (October 1999) Death by Cicutoxin (November 1999) Death by Brodifacoum (December 1999) Anil Aggrawal's Science Reporter's 2000 Articles on Forensic Toxicology Death by Succinylcholine (January 2000) Death by Gold (February 2000) Death by Radon (March 2000) Death by Hydrogen Peroxide (April 2000) Death by Hydrogen Fluoride (May 2000) Death by Fluorine (June 2000) Potassium Bromate (July 2000) Ethylene Glycol (August 2000) Botulinum Toxin (September 2000) General quiz on Forensic Toxicology Arsenic: The king of poisons Silver Death BY SMFA Death by Cadmium Death by Aflatoxins Death by Arsine gas Death by Nitric Acid Picture quiz on Forensic Toxicology Death by Digitalis Death by Oxalic Acid Quiz Index: Anil Aggrawal's Forensic Toxicology Page Arsenic: The king of poisons Methyl bromide Death by DNOC

Forensic Science Fiction

SCIENCE IN CRIME DETECTION-13 HOW DO WE RECOGNIZE A PERSON FROM HIS SKULL ? This time I am going to tell you about a remarkable technique by which we can positively identify a person from his skull. On May 23, 1992 the police found a skull floating in a local river and I was called to opine upon it. I was to give the police all possible information from that skull. But the most important question was, who was that person? From the villages Rampur and Phoolpur which were lying on either side of the river, at least seven persons were reported missing during the last one year under mysterious circumstances. Of these 4 were females and 3 were males. It was quite possible that the skull belonged to one of these seven persons. When I examined the skull closely, I found that the skull belonged to a female. Telling the sex of a person from the skull is not difficult and we have already talked at length about it in our Feb.1994 issue (pp.21‑23). So obviously the 3 males were out of our contention and our task was reduced somewhat. The four females were 15‑year old Sona, 32 year old married Ramwati, 47‑year‑old Phulwanti and 83 year‑old widow Kashi. The police had much to gain if I could tell them whose skull was it, because they could then concentrate their investigations only on that female and her possible enemies. In effect, their task would be reduced to one‑fourth, if I could tell them this vital question. I would like to digress here somewhat and say something about the anatomy of the skull. The skull of every person is unique. It has got distinct bumps, projections and curvatures. If you touch your eyebrows you will find that the skull underneath is somewhat raised. Similarly if you touch your check prominences you will find that the cheek bones beneath are somewhat raised. But what is most important to comprehend is that these 'bumps' are different in each individual. Similarly the skull shows many curvatures. The curvature of the top your skull in unique. All persons have different curvatures of their skull. Similarly the curvature of the chin is different in each individual. In the same way, the shape of the teeth is different in each individual. If we see the margins of the teeth in a particular individual, the margin forms a distinct outline in each individual. So if you see the photographs of a smiling individual, you would find that the upper teeth, which are usually visible in smiling individual, form a distinct outline. The face is molded over the skull, much like plaster of Paris molded over an underlying mould. This cause the face to reflect the same bumps, curves and projection as are present in the individual's skull. Now if we have a photograph of the individual, we have got a record of all the peculiarities of that person skull. If has been now possible to take the photograph of a missing person and superimpose it over the negative of the skull so that all bumps, curvatures and projections could be compared. Teeth outline of smiling individual can also be compared to the teeth outline of the skull. If all the outlines match perfectly with each other, then we can be hundred percent sure that the skull belonged to that individual only. I asked for the photographs of all 4 missing females ‑ Sona, Ramvati, Phulwanti and Kashi. I enlarged the photographs to life‑size and then superimposed the negative of the skull over the various photographs. You can see some examples of these superimpositions in the accompanying photographs although they are from different cases. This will give you some idea of what superimposition in all about. Only the facial outline of Sona matched the outline of the skull and I could tell the of the skull and I could tell the Police that it was the skull of Sona. Police was in fact suspecting for sometime that 15‑year‑old Sona had been murdered by her paramour Ramesh. However they could not lay their hands on Ramesh as Ramesh was the son of a powerful Zamindar. In addition, they did not have any solid proof that Sona had even been murdered. Ramesh kept asserting that Sona had run away with one of her lovers. But now, after my opinion, the police had solid proof that Sona had indeed been murdered. Armed with this information, they raided the house of Ramesh and apprehended him. Ramesh again tried to repeat the same old story, but now the police knew better. When they told him, how they had found about the identity of the skull, Ramesh broke down and told them the whole story. Ramesh had enticed Sona with his money and had promised to get married to her. Under this presumption, Sona allowed Ramesh to have sex with her. After some weeks Sona fell pregnant and began pressing Ramesh to marry her. Ramesh never wanted to marry her. He began to think of ways to dispose her off somehow. Finally one day he called her at the bank of the river to finalize the matter. There he strangulated her and threw her dead body into the river, thinking that the body will drown. Actually the fishes, and other aquatic animals of the river ate the flesh of Sona's body till only the skeleton remained. From this skeleton, the skull got separated and landed ashore. That is how the police got hold of that skull. This case is one of my best cases as I solved a murder mystery by utilizing one of the latest techniques in crime investigation.

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Forensic Science Fiction

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Forensic Toxicology THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE MAY 1998 ISSUE THE POISON SLEUTHS DEATH BY BARIUM -Dr. Anil Aggrawal "Good morning doctor. Oh, my God, what are you doing today? You have the dead body of a man. What happened to him? Please tell me." "Good morning Tarun. The name of this 37 year old man is Kantilal, and he has died this morning in the hospital. He is married to 23 year old Asha, and they don't have any children. It is rumored that Asha had an affair with a 24 year old person Sohan. He works in a chemical factory. They perhaps wanted to marry too, but obviously Asha could not marry him without first divorcing Kantilal, and he would not agree for it." "Oh, I see. So Asha and Sohan gave some poison to Kantilal and finished him off. Right?" "Don't jump to conclusions Tarun. You may be right, but listen to the story first. Then you can perhaps make a more logical and scientific deduction. Yesterday night Asha gave her husband the dinner as usual. Just after having his dinner, Kantilal became severely ill. He complained of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea along with severe abdominal pain. He complained of dryness of mouth and tightness in the throat, generalized weakness and headache too. In addition, he felt numbness and tingling around his mouth. However the most alarming symptoms were a paralysis of his both lower legs. His wife thought that these symptoms were probably due to exhaustion and advised him to rest in bed, but he insisted on calling his doctor. Despite his wife's constant advice to the contrary, he called his doctor. The doctor immediately advised hospitalization. In the hospital, investigations were being carried out to diagnose his illness, but in the meantime he died. Since this is quite an unexpected death, and the hospital doctors had not been able to come to any conclusion regarding his illness, the police has handed over his body to me to find out the cause of death. They are suspecting that Asha gave him some poisonous substance last night in his dinner. If this hunch proves to be correct, Asha could land in jail for a long period." "So what do you think, Kantilal died of?" "Tarun, I have gone through the hospital records. I have found that he had muscular twichings too. The doctors have also recorded that he was not able to pass the urine normally and that once he vomited blood. There was a slowing of his heart beat and he was found to have high blood pressure. All these findings point only to one poison......" "What is it doctor? Please tell me. I am getting curious." "Well, the poison appears to be a salt of barium, perhaps barium chloride." "Barium? Never heard of it being used as a homicidal poison." "Yeah, you may be right. Not many cases of homicidal cases with barium are known, which is surprising, because barium can indeed be used quite successfully as a homicidal poison." "Okay, in this case how are you going to prove to the court that Kantilal did in fact die of barium poisoning?" "I am quite confident of proving that, but to understand how I can do that, you must perhaps know a little bit about barium. The history is replete with interesting stories of poisoning with barium." "Oh doctor, as I told you earlier, I like good juicy stories about poisons. Please tell me more about barium." "Tarun, Barium was discovered by the Swedish chemist Karl Wilhelm Scheele in 1774. He can probably be called the unluckiest chemist in history, for although he discovered several elements such as chlorine, manganese, barium and several others, he does not receive undisputed credit for having discovered a single one. In some cases chemists independently made the same discovery a little sooner. In others Scheele did not quite carry matters far enough and other chemists took the last step and got the credit. Anyway, I told you that just as an interesting historical sideline." "Oh, yes. That is indeed very interesting. I read somewhere that barium preparations are used as a rat poison. Is it true?" "Tarun, over a century ago, barium preparations were used in the treatment of scrofula, which is a form of tuberculosis. It has also been used as a sudorific. A sudorific is an agent which promotes sweating. You might wonder why anybody would want to promote sweating in anyone. Well, sweating as you know brings the temperature of the body down, and at one time this was a favorite method of controlling fever. Furthermore, in ancient days people believed that many poisons can get excreted through the sweat, so to treat any poisoning, doctors recommended sudorifics. The idea was that they would induce so much sweating that all poison would come out along with it. Barium salts have also been used as a diuretic. It is an agent which promotes urinary excretion. Diuretics were also recommended in many poisonings. So you can see, barium salts were in rampant use in ancient times. But barium is quite toxic to the human body and this fact was soon recognized." "Oh, so barium salts are not used in modern medicine at all?" "That is not the case Tarun. There are several salts of barium almost all of which are poisonous except one- barium sulphate. And this salt finds good used in modern diagnostics. This is routinely used in radiography. Doctors use this when they want to take radiographs of the patient's stomach and intestines. The patient is given a glass of barium sulphate suspension to drink. This fills the stomach and intestines. Then the doctor takes the X-ray. By this method, stomach and intestines are very clearly seen in the X-ray. Almost all other salts of barium are poisonous. Barium salts which are poisonous are Barium carbonate, barium nitrate, barium chloride, barium hydroxide, barium sulfide, barium chlorate and barium acetate. Out of these barium carbonate and barium sulphide are often used as a rat poison as you mentioned earlier. In fact all these barium salts which I mentioned can cause serious poisoning in man. Barium carbonate and barium chloride are most often responsible for poisonings in man." "Doctor, how is it that certain salts of barium are so poisonous that they have been used as rat poisons and can even cause serious poisoning in man, while other salts of barium are routinely given to patients for diagnosis? It appears almost as a paradox to me." "Tarun, it all depends on the solubility of the salt. The chloride and nitrate are well soluble in water. The carbonate is much less soluble in water but is soluble in dilute acids. All other poisonous salts that I mentioned are also soluble either in water or in dilute acids. So once they are ingested by a human being, they get dissolved in the hydrochloric acid of the stomach and can get absorbed. Sulfate on the other hand is the least soluble compound in any medium. That is why it is non poisonous and is even routinely used in diagnostics. In fact, when a case of barium poisoning comes to the doctor, his first line of treatment is to give about 5-10 g of sodium sulphate or magnesium sulphate to the patient, so that the poisonous barium salt may get converted to insoluble and harmless barium sulphate." "Oh, I see. Are there other uses for barium salts in modern times too." "Oh, Barium salts are used in a number of industrial processes, but I will not go into the details of that. I would only limit myself to the use of barium salts in day-to-day life. This is important, because this is how a poisoner can get hold of the poisonous salt. Barium sulphide in a cream is sometimes used as a depilatory, i.e. to remove hair. And as I told you earlier, it has also been used as a rat poison. Barium carbonate is more commonly used as a rat poison however." "Doctor, since when is barium being used to poison people?" "Tarun, I must tell you that till now barium has not been used much by the poisoner to kill people, although it has several properties of an ideal homicidal poison (for ideal homicidal poisons, see "Arsenic- the King of Poisons", Science Reporter February 1997). Barium has been used for suicide, but this poisoning has mostly remained accidental till now. And very rarely barium has been taken by women to procure abortion. The first case of poisoning by any of the barium salts was reported in 1868, when a case of poisoning by barium nitrate was reported. Since then several interesting cases of barium poisoning have been reported. A case was described in 1921, where a bag of flour was stolen from a store at some docks. It was used to make noodles for the family. Five persons were poisoned and one of them died. Later the flour was found to contain 23% of barium carbonate! So quite ironically the thief received punishment without undergoing any trial. Another case occurred in 1948, in which severe but non-fatal poisoning resulted when a woman tasted some icing on a cake she had made. She had used a product called "Stafford starch" to set the icing. Analysis demonstrated that Stafford starch contained upto 55% barium carbonate. It was withdrawn from sale in 1956. Barium salts have been mistaken for other products and taken. In 1951, for instance, a patient was ordered barium sulphate prior to X-ray examination of his stomach, but owing to a mixing of the stock in the chemist's shop, barium carbonate was supplied. The patient became seriously ill after the X-ray examination and died in spite of prompt treatment. In yet another case, a workman in a chemical factory took home some crystals of barium chloride from the poison store and gave some to a neighbour, who used them in a foot bath in the belief that the substance was a "health salt". His wife, in like belief, handed some to a woman aged 27, who died after ingesting about 8-10 g." "Oh, they are very interesting cases indeed!" "Early in this century, it was the practice to add an artificial rind to gorgonzola cheese by applying a mixture of barium sulphate and talc....." "Sorry to interrupt you doctor, but what exactly is gorgonzola cheese?" "Tarun, Gorgonzola cheese is a strongly flavoured, hard pressed variety of white Italian cheese veined with mold. It is named after a small town in Lombardy, in Northern Italy, just a few miles east of Milan. It is a very popular kind of cheese even today. So it is interesting that despite applying barium sulphate on it, no one was poisoned." "Oh, but that is what is to be expected. You told me earlier that barium sulphate is the only form of barium which is non poisonous." "That's right Tarun. I am happy you are listening. But actually commercial forms of barium sulfate may be contaminated with other soluble barium salts, and indeed such forms of barium sulfate may prove to be poisonous. But in the case that I mentioned, certainly the manufacturers seem to have been using a very pure form of barium sulfate." "Oh, I see!" "Tarun there have been some other mass poisoning incidents in which barium salts were involved. In the Chinese province of Szechuan, in the district of Ipin, an endemic condition, Pa-Ping, has been described since 1930, the cause of which was eventually attributed to food poisoning from the very high proportion of barium chloride in the table-salt mined there. The poisoning was restricted to the workers in the salt mines and others who ate the salt from there. The poisoned people showed symptoms of nausea, vomiting, ocassional diarrhea, and muscular paralysis. Analysis of salt has shown it to be contaminated by barium chloride in concentrations of up to 25.69%. Fortunately fatalities were rare. Similarly a poisoning incident of the British Army occurred in 1945. In that year, British Army was stationed in Persia. They ate some pastry made of flour, and immeditely thereafter 85 of them became severely ill. It was later discovered that a sack in the flour store, containing 4 lb of barium carbonate, had been filled with flour and issued to the unit! It was found that an average portion of pastry contained about 15 g of barium carbonate! Fortunately in this case too, there were no fatalities. Yet another epidemic occurred in an Indian Unit of British Army stationed at Alexandria. In this outbreak however, one person died. In this case too, it was shown that that the flour had been contaminated by barium carbonate intended for use as a rat poison." "Oh, they are indeed very interesting incidents." "There are more of such incidents Tarun. One of the most well-known is the accidental poisoning of about 100 persons in Israel in 1963. On Aug 21, 1963, more than 100 persons, ranging in age from 15 to 56 years, fell ill in Israel, following the ingestion of sausage made from turkey. Nineteen of them- 12 males and 7 females- had to be even admitted to the Central Emek Hospital for treatment. The main symptoms in these patients were diarrhoea, vomiting, generalized weakness, paralysis ranging from weakness of one limb to complete quadriplegia, dryness of the mouth, tightness in the throat, dysarthria, headache and muscular twitchings. One of the most characteristic and constant symptoms was however paresthesia around the mouth. This was described as numbness and tingling, without impairment of touch, pain or temperature. In some patients the paresthesiae spread to the hands and feet. The history of intake of food from a common source, coupled with the fact that there were predominant neurological symptoms led the doctors to believe initially that they were facing an outbreak of botulism...." "Sorry to interrupt you doctor, but what exactly is botulism?" "Tarun, botulism is a form of food poisoning, which occurs due to poor preservation of food. A dangerous bacterium Clostridium botulinum infects such food, and produces a very dangerous nerve poison, botulin. In fact, it is the most powerful and dangerous toxin known, with the lethal dose as small as half of a microgram! Initially it was thought that this bacterium infects only meat. In fact the word botulism comes from the Latin Botulus meaning, "a sausage" signifying this earlier belief. But now it is known that it can infect any type of food- even vegetables. The symptoms of botulism may resemble that of barium poisoning. In fact, so similar may be the symptoms that according to most doctors, barium poisoning should always be considered as a possible diagnosis in all cases of food poisoning accompanied by neurological complications. However there are some differentiating features. For instance, in botulism, the patient usually displays eye signs such as double vision (technically known as diplopia), drooping of eye lids (technically known as ptosis) and abnormalities of the pupil. In the Israel poisoning, eye signs were not present in any of the victims, and this led the doctors to think towards barium poisoning. The doctors looked for potassium depletion in the blood. This is a very typical finding seen in barium poisoning. They did find very low potassium levels in the blood (this condition is technically known as hypokalemia), which seemed to confirm that the patiens indeed were suffering from barium poisoning. On investigation, it was found that the turkey-sausage, made by a local factory was contaminated heavily with barium carbonate..." "Interesting! But how in the first place did it get contaminated?" "In the manufacture of that particular type of sausage, potato meal was mixed with meat. On that particular day, by accident a sack of barium carbonate had been sent to the factory in place of potato meal and this is how the meat got contaminated! Earlier I was telling you that most barium salts, except barium sulphate, prove poisonous because they are soluble either in water or in dilute acids. This Israel poisoning case proves this point very nicely. In this case children were not affected, although many had eaten the affected food. Do you know why? The reason was that children's stomachs have very low acidity, and in this low acidity, barium carbonate could not get dissolved, and was thus not absorbed. More interesting is the case of three persons, who had had previous gastrectomies....." "What is a gastrectomy doctor?" "It is an operation in which the stomach is surgically removed for some reason. Most commonly, it is removed because of cancer of stomach. These three people who had had gatrectomies also ate the contaminated food, but were not affected! This was also due to the fact that the barium could not get absorbed in these patients. Intestines have an alkaline medium in which barium carbonate is insoluble!" "Very interesting indeed. Doctor, just now you told me that in barium poisoning, potassium levels of the blood are decreased. Why does it occur?" "Tarun, Barium is physiologically antagonistic to potassium. It is seen that somehow, barium is responsible for pumping the potassium from the blood stream in to the cells. That is why hypokalemia of barium poisoning is accompanied by increased intracellular potassium levels. In addition, some potassium is also lost through vomiting and diarrhea which occurs in barium poisoning." "This means that administration of potassium should be a good treatment of barium poisoning?" "Oh, indeed it is. I am happy you are thinking. Indeed, intravenous administration of potassium is a very effective treatment of barium poisoning. In fact, in the British Army case, I just mentioned, the soldiers were given solutions of potassium permanganate to drink! And this worked dramatically and that's why there were no fatalities. Similarly in the Pa-Ping outbreak, the workers were given a 5% solution of potassium citrate, again with very good effect. Both these salts provided much needed potassium to the patients." "Doctor, how much of a barium salt can kill a human being?" "Tarun the fatal dose of barium salts generally varies between 1 and 15 g. The fatal dose of barium carbonate- one of most commonly implicated salts- is about 0.8 g. Coupled with the fact, that this salt is white, odourless and tasteless, this really makes a very good homicidal poison. To prevent it being used as a homicidal poison, and mainly to prevent an accidental intake of barium, an attempt has been made to add coloring matter to barium carbonate. But this has proved futile because the rats refuse to eat the colored food!" "Oh! And how quickly does a person die when given a lethal dose of barium?" "Death usually occurs within an hour." "Doctor, in the case of Kantilal, how are you going to prove, that he indeed died of barium poisoning, and not food poisoning?" "Tarun, I have done post-mortem in this case, and have found some findings which are seen in barium poisoning. For instance there is evidence of inflammation of stomach and duodenum, accompanied by numerous bleeding points in the wall of the stomach. I have found hemorrhages in the left ventricle. These are called subendocardial hemorrhages. I have also found severe pulmonary edema, which is a condition in which lungs become water-logged. However these are not very specific findings and I could not prove barium poisoning from these findings alone. The finding that clinches my point is that barium barium has been found to be present in the kidneys and spleen of Kantilal's dead body. Come, let us tell the police that Kantilal has indeed died of barium poisoning. Now they can question Asha and Sohan more rigorously and perhaps they will now come out with the truth." "Oh, how very clever of you doctor. This was a most interesting discussion. Tell me what are you going to tell me the next time?" "Tarun, next time, I would tell you about a very interesting poison- Selenium "

SCIENCE IN CRIME DETECTION-16 MURDER BY ELECTRICITY This time I am going to tell you about a very unusual case of homicide. This case came up while I was in Britain and working with the legendary crime scientist Prof. Bernard Knight. A young woman was found dead in her bath, slumped forwards in a kneeling position with one breast resting against a chrome tap (see Fig. 1). The left arm was trailing over the edge of the bath, in which was the usual level of water plus an electric fan heater immersed near the feet. The heater was connected by a long cable to a 240 volt socket in an adjacent bedroom. To all intents and purposes it appeared that the woman, while taking her bath had accidentally slipped in the bath and drowned. This is not a very unusual mode mode of death. Several people have accidentally died in this way. As regards the heater in the water, it was assumed that when the woman must be struggling to find her way out, her legs may have got entangled in the cable wire somehow and she must have accidentally dragged the heater in the bath. Since Britain is a cold country many people keep heaters in their bathroom while taking bath, so the presence of a heater in the bathroom did not arouse much suspicion. The post mortem examination seemed merely a routine formality. However while we were conducting the post mortem examination I noted two curious marks on the body and showed them to Prof. Knight. The first was on the left breast and the other was over the inside of her left arm near the axilla. These were the marks produced by electricity. Prof. Knight agreed with my suggestion that it was a case of homicide rather than that of accident. Subsequent investigations revealed that it was indeed a case of homicide and the husband was involved in that ghastly murder. So just two insignificant looking marks took the perpetrator of crime to the gallows. To understand about these marks let us understand about some of the basics of electricity first. But before going on further, let me tell you that homicide by electrocution is by no means unknown. In a Hindi film of early 1970s, Gehri Chaal (An Amitabh Bachchan, Jeetendra and Hema Malini starrer), Amitabh Bachchan tries to kill the CBI inspector Jeetendra by cleverly setting up wires in his bathroom in such a way that the moment Jeetendra touches the tap, he get electrocuted. Of course by a quirk of fate he does not die, but gets away by getting simply a strong current ! Coming to the basics of electricity now. One of the important things to understand is the meaning of "current". All of us use this term daily. The word "current" signifies the quantity of electricity flowing through a wire. It is measured in units called "Amperes". We must not get worried about this term. This is a technical term and I am introducing it only for information purposes. The only thing that must be understood here is that a current of, say, 2 amperes is greater than a current of 1 ampere. 1 ampere is in fact a huge amount of current. This much current is not encountered in daily life, so scientists usually talk of a lesser quantity known as milliamperes. One ampere is equal to 1000 milliamperes. To get some idea of how much a milliampere is, one must know that in an ordinary household electric bulb of 100 watts running on 250 volts, a current of about 400 mA(milliamperes) flows. When a current is flowing through a wire, what is actually flowing through the wire are tiny ball like structures known as electrons. These balls are too tiny to be seen with the naked eye or even with the strongest microscopes. More the number of electrons flowing through the wire, stronger the current. How tiny these electrons are, can be estimated from the fact that 6. 25 quadrillion electrons (this number can be written by writing 625 and then adding 13 zeros after it!)must pass through a wire or through the body every second to set up a current of just 1 milliampere. Most people can voluntarily tolerate a current of up to 30 mA applied to the hand, which results in painful muscle contractions. When the amount of current is increased to 40mA, consciousness is lost. At 50mA the heart loses its rythm and starts beating very fast‑even upto 600 times a minute(the normal rate is only 72 per minute). This phenomenon is known as ventricular fibrillation . Death occurs when the current is increased to 80mA. The time for which the current passes through the body is also important. If a small amount of current passes through the body for a longer period, the net damage to the body may be more than when a large current passes through the body for a much smaller period. Thus it is wrong to believe that a large current is necessarily fatal. One can escape the ill‑effects of a large current if the exposure to the current is for a very small period. Another thing to understand is the significance of "voltage". Voltage is like the "pressure" of electricity. This pressure is measured in units called volts. Just as more water pressure causes more water to come in our water taps, more electrical pressure( i. e. greater voltage) causes more electricity to flow through the wire. If this same voltage is applied to the body, electricity starts passing through the body causing harmful effects. The domestic supply in India is 240 volts, which is quite fatal. That is why in several parts of USA and Europe, the domestic electricity is supplied at only 110 volts. The commonly used car battery supplies a voltage of only 24 volts, which is quite safe, but as we have already seen, even this voltage may prove fatal if the voltage is applied to the body for much longer periods. In fact cases of death have occured when a person was pinned beneath an electrical vehicle for several hours. It is interesting to note that an ordinary torch cell supplies only about 1. 5 volts. Thus if about 160 such cells were joined end‑to‑end, they would supply an electric voltage of 160x0. 5 volts or about 240 volts. Thus such a combination could cleverly be used by a cunning criminal to commit murder! When a person receives an electrical current, what actually happens is that an electrical current passes through his body. It enters the body through a particular point, known as the entry point and exits the body through another point, known as the exit point. What is important to understand is that the current leaves characteristic burn marks, both at the entry and the exit points. These are known as `electrical marks' or `electrical burns' or `Joule burns'(reproduce the figure on page 297 and page 298 here). The term `Joule burns' comes from the name of an English scientist James Prescott Joule (1818‑1889), who was the first scientist to work out the formula governing the development of heat by an electric current. According to this formula if the current flowing through the body is doubled, the heat generated is not just doubled, but is increased 4 times!Similarly if the current is increased three‑fold, the heat increases 9 times. In other words, the heat increases as the square of the applied current. This is indeed a dangerous situation. The temperature of the skin under the live wire may reach as high as 95 o C. Such a high temperature splits the layers of the skin and produces a raised blister. When the current ceases, the blister cools and collapses,giving rise to a characteristic mark which we have already talked about. A characteristic feature of this mark is that the edges of this mark are quite blanched (reproduce fig 12. 6 on page 300 here) This mark immediately tells the crime scientist that the deceased may have been electrocuted. This is the mark that I saw on the body of the woman and which I showed to my colleague. To get back to our case now. After my suggestion, the police called the expert electricians and asked them to examine the concerned heater. Surprisingly it was found that the third `earth' wire was disconnected from the earth pin inside the plug. This clearly established the intentions of the murderer who incidentally turned out to be the woman's husband himself. Since the enamel lining of the bath can not allow the current to pass through, the earthing of the current could only occur through the bath water via the chrome waste pipe. The woman was subsequently pushed against the tap by her husband in such a way that her left breast touched the metal tap. This started another path for the current to pass out‑through the body and then through the metal tap. This path presumably took the woman's life. The husband was subsequently questioned by the police regarding this. Initially he kept denying everything, but when he was presented with the forensic evidence, he broke down and confessed to everything. This was a remarkable victory for forensic science. This case also illustrates, how fertile human mind can be, especially when it comes to crime.

SCIENCE IN CRIME DETECTION-2 WHO HANDLED THE GUN ? Often a difficulty arises in cases of firing, about who fired the shot. The police wants to know from the scientist if a particular criminal has fired a gun or not. Consider a case where a man has been shot dead. Two witnesses have identified the assailant in an identification parade, within minutes of the incident. The suspected assailant keeps asserting that he hasn't fired the gun. Now how can one prove scientifically that the suspect did indeed fire the gun? Scientists make use of a curious fact involved in firing to test it. Each cartridge used in firing contains a propellant charge or powder which burns during he firing action. The commonly used powders are either black powder or smokeless powder. Black powder, also known as gun powder, consists of charcoal (15%), sulphur (10%) and potassium nitrate (75%). When ignited, it produces a lot of smoke. Smokeless powder contains either nitrocellulose alone (in which case it is known as a single base powder) or nitrocellulose mixed with nitroglycerine (in which case it is known as double base powder). Besides the propellant mixture, the cartridge also contains some special chemicals called the primer. These chemicals have the special property of getting ignited when subjected to great pressure. Several types of primers may be used, but the most commonly used are lead azide, lead styphnate, mercury fulminate, barium nitrate, potassium chlorate and antimony sulphide. In fact, when the trigger of a gun is pressed, the firing pin strikes the cartridge at a point where the primer is kept. This cause the primer to ignite. The flames thus produced ignited the propellant charge. The burning of the propellant charge produces large amounts of gases, which finally propel the bullet. So much so about the primer and black powder. Now how does the scientist make use of these facts? Actually when a gun is fired, the products of combustion (of propellant and primer) come out of the barrel of the gun. Some may leak through the back of the gun and may get deposited on the hands of the person who has fired. Depending of whether the gun was handled by the right or the left hand, the products of combustion get deposited on certain specific areas of the hand which are exposed. (fig. 1) Now if somehow, one can detect the products of combustion from the hands, one can be in a fairly good position to say whether the accused did handle the gun. The first such idea occurred to Teodoro Gonzalez of the Criminal Identification Laboratory, Mexico City police headquarters, as far back as in 1933. He employed, what later became famous as the "paraffin test", also known as the "Dermal nitrate" or "diphenylamine test". In this test, the hands of the suspect are coated with a layer of paraffin. After cooling, the casts are removed and treated with an acid solution of diphenylamine. This reagent detects nitrites and nitrates that originate from gun powder and are deposited on the hands of the criminal. A positive test is indicated by the presence of blue flecks in the paraffin. In 1959, two scientists Harrison and Gilroy introduced another test. This test was designed to detect chemicals such as barium, antimony and lead. Those chemicals are produced by the burning of the primer and may get deposited on the hands of the criminal. This test, too, is used frequently to determine whether a criminal indeed fired a shot. In this test, a square of white cotton cloth is moistened with hydrochloric acid. This is a common chemical used in most laboratories. Most people know it by the name tezaab , which is sometimes used to clean toilets. However, the acid that is used in the test is quite diluted; so it does not burn the hands of the suspect. The cotton cloth, moistened with this diluted hydrochloric acid, is used to swab the hands of the suspect. If the suspect has fired the gun, the particles of the chemicals mentioned above will get transferred to the cotton. The cotton swab is then treated with a special chemical triphenyl methyl arsonium iodide also known as "antimony detector" (because it detects antimony). To be more accurate, the cotton swab is split into two. One half is treated with the above chemical, which detects antimony and the other half with another chemical called sodium rhodizonate. This chemical detects the presence of barium and lead, by changing the color of the cotton, treated with either chemical changes, then it is confirmed decisively that the person is the culprit. Several times, I have been asked by the police to opine if a particular criminal fired the fun or not and I have used these two tests to my benefit with great accuracy. Most of the time, criminals have been prosecuted on this evidence. SO next time when you read in newspapers that the scientists determined the actual gun man by conducting certain tests, don't be in awe. You know exactly what chemicals and tests have been used. Who knows, you might even give a hint or two to the police!

| Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Aims & Objectives Hi, I am Professor Anil Aggrawal, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi-110002. I am married to a professor of chemistry and have a son (born 1984). I am interested in interacting with people who are interested in forensic medicine, pathology and toxicology. My home address is S-299 Greater Kailash-1, New Delhi-110048, India. My phone numbers are 29235460 and 29243101. My Email is dr_anil@hotmail.com I have always felt that forensic personnel are very creative. They write a lot, and often want to share their experiences with other persons of their profession. Sadly however only a limited number of journals are being published which solely cater to articles on forensic medicine and toxicology. A number of times, a little but useful experience of a forensic pathologist or toxicologist can not be converted into a valid paper, yet that experience could be very useful for the rest of us. A minor technique, a minor incision, which a forensic pathologist has discovered or found useful in his experience may not always be possible to be converted into a paper, yet could be very useful to the rest of us, if we had a means to know about that experience. For a long time, I had acutely felt the need for a forum, where such experiences could be shared. Internet provides a very good answer to the above problem. Now forensic personnel do not have to look anywhere to have their experiences, their statistical data and even proper full length papers (even with color photographs!) published. They can have them hosted here on the internet on this site. With the coming of the internet, I conceived the idea of an Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology to address these problems. Although mainly started with the above mentioned intentions, now the input of papers from all parts of the world has increased so much, that we are including proper full length papers too in this internet journal , even with color photographs. We have enough space on this website, and thus there are virtually no constraints. The paper could be lengthy (if the author feels his ideas can not be put across in shorter length), can have virtually unlimited number of photographs (which can be hosted in color!) and so on. This journal has only an electronic existence, and their is no corresponding journal on paper. In this respect, this journal probably has the honor of being the first of its kind in the world. This journal is being visited by several people daily, who not only read the papers, but add their own experiences related to the paper in the guest books maintained at the bottom of each paper. Thus with time, the experiences of several people on a given subject accumulate, and each one of us can benefit from the collected wisdom of all of us. Best of all, you can mention these papers in your CVs as they have the same validity as any other paper in a traditionally printed journal. These papers can be included as references by your peers in their own papers, monographs, chapters, books or encyclopaedias. To see how these papers can be sited, please visit any paper and see its reference at the top. If you have an interesting forensic paper (or experience), you may want to send it (and related photos if there are any) to me both by E-mail and by ordinary snail mail. Please scan the pictures at 300 dpi. Don't worry if you are uncomfortable at scanning pictures. Simply send the pictures to me by ordinary mail, and I will scan them for you. For ordinary mail, please use the following address. Professor Anil Aggrawal (Editor-in-Chief) Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology S-299 Greater Kailash-1 New Delhi-110048 India Books for review must be submitted at the above address. The journal is now also available on CD-ROM, with many more additional features.

SCIENCE IN CRIME DETECTION-5 WHAT DO THE BITE MARKS TELL US ? Many a time we deal with crimes, which involve bite marks. Often bite marks are the only clues that we get in a murder case. There was a time when one could not infer much from the bite marks, but now we can easily catch the criminal form his bite marks. Bite marks are seen in cases like rape, murder and sexual assaults. I remember many cases of rape and murder, when in a sexual frenzy, the assailant bit the breasts and cheeks of the victim. When I conducted the post-mortem examination on such cases, many times I found that bite marks were the only clues available. Identifying the criminal from these bite marks was a very interesting experience. We can identify the criminal from his bite marks from the fact that each individual has teeth of different size and shape. One must have noticed that some people have short teeth, some have wide spaced teeth, some have buck teeth, some have crooked teeth and so on. Manya a time the differences in size and shapes of teeth are very obvious to even a layman. But in many other cases, a layman is apt to think that there is not much difference in the teeth of any two individuals. However, if a scientist closely examines the teeth of such individuals he can easily spot many differences. It has been seen that the structure of the teeth of an individual is almost as unique as his fingerprints. Since the teeth of all individuals are unique, the bite marks produced by them are also different. It has been estimated that the odds against two persons with full set of 32 teeth producing identical bite marks are 2.5 billion to 1. This means that in India, with a population of 1.2 billion, no two persons will have identical bite marks and in the whole world with a population of about 7 billion, only 2 or 3 people will have identical bite marks. This is a very reasonable conclusion and courts will not hesitate to prosecute a criminal on the evidence of bite marks. How do we proceed in such cases? Well, many times the bite marks are obvious, but at many other times bite marks are very faint or even invisible. In such cases we flash a special light on the dead body. This is called ultra violet light or UV light. Human saliva shines brightly in UV light. Wherever the attacker has bitten his victim, his saliva stains are bound to be there, although they may dry up. These saliva stains start shining and we can immediately know that this is the place where bite marks are present. Next, we photograph the bite marks. If the bite marks are visible, we photograph them straightway with ordinary light. If they are invisible, we photograph them using special UV light. These photographs are then enlarged so that they become real life size. Then we question the police regarding the suspects. Suppose the police has 20 suspects in mind. We call all 20 suspects in question. We make plaster-casts of the teeth of all of them. Naturally, since the teeth of all people are different, their plaster casts are also different. Then we take out the bite mark photograph and superimpose the plaster-cast over the bite marks. Only one plaster-cast will exactly superimpose the bite mark and this gives away the actual criminal. This technique is similar to a small game which children play sometimes. They have a map of the world and several "cutouts" of various countries. If they want to know where a particular country, say Switzerland is located, they will take the "cutout" of Switzerland and try fitting it over various places on the map. Since the shapes of all countries are different (just as shapes of all teeth are different), only one place on the world map will exactly fit the Switzerland "cutout". This gives the exact location of Switzerland. Figure 1 here explains the method outlined earlier. At the top, we see the bite marks on the cheeks of a girl who was raped and murdered. These bite marks are quite faint and difficult to recognize, but in UV light they become very prominent. The bottom of the same figure shows the same marks in UV light and one can appreciate how nicely they appear now. The police had three suspects in this case. The doctor prepared the plaster-casts of the teeth of all suspects (middle) . One can see that the casts are different in all cases. The actual rapist and murderer was the one whose cast appears on the extreme right. Bite marks are seen on breasts too. In another case, the bite marks appeared on the breast ( fig. 2 , top). The casts of the teeth of many suspects were prepared and only one fitted the bite mark exactly. (fig. 2 , bottom) shows the plaster-cast which exactly matched the bite mark. This gave away the criminal. Incidentally these photographs are from the infamous Biggar murder case tried in Scotland in 1968. This case was described by one of the investigating officers as "a triumph for forensic odontology". The matching of the marks on the victim's breast (top ) and the attacker's tooth (bottom ) had to be conclusive, since it was the only proof of the identity of the murderer - one of 29 suspects! Bite marks help us in several other cases too, which have nothing to do with rape and murder. In one case a thief entered the house and stole costly jewellery and cash. When he was about to come out, he saw an apple lying on the dining table. Perhaps he was hungry and he took a lusty bite at the apple (fig. 3) and then left the apple at the dining table. He must not have imagined even in his wildest dreams that he could he caught by this seemingly innocuous act of his. When the police came, they found the apple and submitted it to the doctor. He immediately preserved the apple in a special chemical (formalin) so that the apple did not disintegrate. Later the police caught one suspect but he denied that he had committed the theft. When the doctor examined his teeth ( figure 3, middle) , he was convinced that he was the man who had bitten the apple. Another apple was brought and he was asked to bite into it ( fig. 3, bottom ). The bite marks of the a crime scene apple (fig. 3, top) and the a test apple (fig. 3, bottom ) matched exactly. Faced with this evidence, the thief broke down and admitted his crime. I will round up this account by suggesting a simple experiment which any one can conduct at home. This will give one the satisfaction of becoming a detective also. Take an apple and ask one of your family members to take a bite. Tell them to take the apple away to a different room and ask them that only one member should take a bite at it. Ask them not to reveal the name of that person. Tell them that you can find out who bit the apple just by seeing the bite marks. When the apple is brought to you, look at the bite marks carefully and then examine the teeth of all your family members. Most probably you will be able to tell the correct person just by this. But if you are not able to, then give one apple to each and ask them to take a bite each. Now compare the bite marks and you will be able to tell surely who bit the apple. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? If you can do it, it means you have the traits of a good detective. All the best!

SCIENCE IN CRIME DETECTION-37 MASTERY OF THE PAW On 31 November 1993, I dealt with one of the strangest cases of my life. A shrivelled object was brought to me from Madhya Pradesh, which looked very much like a mummified human hand (reproduce fig III-2 on page 40: Both figures are to be reproduced!). The police wanted me to tell them whatever I could, after examination of this hand. The story that the police gave me was quite bizarre. To understand the full implications of the case, I feel it necessary to tell my readers the details of the whole case. The mummified hand (let us call it the "paw" for the sake of brevity) was recovered from the farm house of a multimillionaire land owner Bhiku Ram in Madhya Pradesh. He was 36 years of age and an influential land owner. He owned many properties in Madhya Pradesh as well as in several other states of the country. The farm house from where the paw was recovered was called Dilshaad farm house by Bhiku. It was very vast and ran into several acres. It was surrounded by vast jungles of Madhya Pradesh. Bhiku was a married man, but like a typical multimillionaire he had several vices. He had several concubines who used to visit his farmhouse regularly. One of his favorites was Anita Bai. She was a good looking female, about 22 years in age, and had only a widowed mother at her home. She came into this profession mainly to support herself and her mother. Everybody in the locality knew about the relations between Bhiku and Anita Bai. They had intimate sexual relations. Lately Anita Bai was demanding some more favours from Bhiku which he was denying. She wanted a house for her own as well as more cash per month. Bhiku thought it was too much. He was giving her about Rs 3,000 per month, and in his opinion, this amount was sufficient for Anita to support two people- herself and her mother. Moreover Anita was spending on an average only about 7 nights per month with Bhiku, and he thought Rs 3,000 for 7 nights were enough. Anita on the other hand was asking for Rs 10,000 per month and a house, to which Bhiku did not agree. This led to some misunderstanding between them. The story would have perhaps dragged on like that, but meanwhile Anita became pregnant and her demands became more insistent. She threatened to take legal recourse if Bhiku did not take immediate steps to compensate her properly for her favours. This frightened Bhiku, and he contacted his best friend Suresh for advice. The police got the preceding story from Suresh. God knows what advice Suresh gave to Bhiku, but soon after both Anita and her mother disappeared from the locality quite mysteriously. When the police enquired from Suresh, he told that he had advised Bhiku to pay up immediately as desired by Anita and then break up the relations with her as her demands were getting unreasonable. He advised that if he continued having relations with her, he was likely to land up in trouble. The police however did not believe Suresh. It was widely believed by the police as well as by several residents of the locality that Anita and her mother had been done to death by the goons of Bhiku, and perhaps it was done on the advice of Suresh. However the police had no proof for this belief. Bhiku and Suresh were arrested by the police and produced in the court for alleged murder of Anita and her mother. In the court both Bhiku and Suresh kept insisting that they had nothing to do with the disappearance of Anita and her mother, but the court remanded them to police custody for a period of 15 days. It meant only one thing- that both Bhiku and Suresh would be tortured savagely to get the truth out from them. When the mummified paw was recovered from Bhiku's farmhouse, the police felt that they had clinched the issue. Bhiku and his goons must have buried the bodies of Anita and her mother somewhere in their farm. Some animal from the neighborhood must have dug up the bodies and have devoured it, and perhaps one hand remained lying in the farm on the surface unnoticed. When the paw was given to me, Bhiku and Suresh had already spent 5 days in police custody, but despite sustained interrogation, they were not coming out with any useful revelation regarding Anita's and her mother's disappearance. Either they really did not know anything about their disappearance or otherwise they were acting very tough. The police was of the latter view. When the paw was given to me, I was specifically asked to tell the police whether it could be the hand of a female and the approximate age of that female if possible. If the hand turned out to be that of a female around 22 years of age, it would be a very strong point in favour of the police theory that Bhiku and his goons had done Anita and her mother to death and had buried them somewhere in the farmhouse. The police also made a programme to dig up the farm of Bhiku in order to recover the bodies- of course after my report was received. I made a detailed examination of the paw. It looked pretty much like the hand of an adult human being. On the back of the hand I noticed some hair too. I plucked a few hair and preserved them for later investigations. Before proceeding any further I decided to take an X-ray of the paw first. The X-ray showed rather a bizarre picture (reproduce fig III-3 on page 41 here) . If you look carefully at this picture, you will find that one of the bones is broken. It is the second long bone from the right side. Technically this bone is known as the metacarpal bone. However the anatomical configuration of the bones made me somewhat suspicious. I was not quite sure of my conclusions. But to set my doubts at rest, I removed the soft tissues from the hand and extracted the bones. Then I assembled the bones together. The adjacent figure (please reproduce figure III-4 on page 42 here) shows the result of my experiment. The hand on the left is the one I assembled and the one on the right is that of a known human hand. One can see that there is a lot of difference between the anatomical configuration of the two hands. It led to only one conclusion- that the recovered paw was not of a human but of some animal! I could not say what animal it was, but one thing was sure. It was not the hand of a human. I contacted a well known zoology professor for help on this aspect. He studied the bones in detail, and informed me that it was the paw of a bear! I was taken aback by this information. But to set all doubts at rest, I did some further experimentation on my own. I decided to check the hair I had removed from the paw earlier. All hair - whether they belong to humans or to animals- are covered with some small plate like things called scales. The pattern of scales in a human hair is different from the one found in animals. When I compared the scale pattern of the hairs recovered from the paw with known human hair, there was a lot of difference (reproduce figure III-5 on page 43 here). In the adjacent figure, the hair on the top is the one I recovered from the mummified hand, and the one on the bottom is a hair I recovered from one of my lab assistants. One can see that there is an obvious difference in the scale pattern of the two hair. It was quite obvious now, that the police had recovered the paw of a bear and not of a human. What had really happened, one may ask. Well, I believe a bear must have died in the jungle in the neighborhood and some animal must have dragged it to the safety of the farmhouse for having a comfortable meal. The paw remained uneaten after the meal and it was abandoned. It got mummified with the passage of time, and it was finally recovered from the farmhouse of Bhiku. Well, if the paw was not of Anita, what had actually happened to her? Where was she? Subsequent to my findings the police began searching on other lines. A detailed investigation showed that Anita had some distant relations in Bihar. A police party was sent there to find out about her. And to the surprise of every one concerned, Anita was found there alive, hale and hearty. Disillusioned with her life as Bhiku's concubine, she had got an abortion done and moved with her mother to Bihar to start a new life! The police party found Anita and her mother safe and sound at the village in Bihar. Since she had no friends in Madhya Pradesh, she did not find any need to tell anyone she was moving- not even to Bhiku, with whom she was obviously annoyed. After coming to Bihar, she had been making a living as a household help. Had a detailed forensic examination of the paw not been made, it was quite possible that Bhiku and Suresh would have spent an inordinately long time in the custody of police. When Bhiku and Suresh were released from the police custody, they came and fell on my feet. They thought I had saved them from the agony of a long police custody. The poor fellows did not know that it was forensic science which had actually saved them! (To protect the identity of the individuals, their names, as well as the various dates of occurrence have been changed)