SCIENCE IN CRIME DETECTION-26 FORGERY OF CHEQUES I had a tremendous response for my article about car headlights, published in the April, 1995 issue of Crime & Detective. One Marianus Bilung writes from Haflong, N.C.Hills, Assam," Your forensic investigation articles regarding solving of various murder cases are superb. I liked the article on car headlights. However your article presumes that in every accident, car headlights must be broken. If in an accident, the car headlights remain intact, how could you say that at the time of the accident, the headlights were on or not?" An interesting question indeed. In a severe accident generally the headlights are broken. However I do not know how to solve this question if the headlights remain intact. The principle behind solving such questions, is that a hot tungsten wire (used as a filament in car headlights must undergo some chemical changes if it is hot and exposed to air. It will get exposed to air when the headlights crash. If they do not crash, the filament will not come in contact with air, and it should really be very difficult to say whether the headlights were on or not. Perhaps some reader can give a good answer to this. I feel that an examination of the switches inside the car might be of some help. If the switches were off, one could say that the headlights were off. However I will be very interested to have more solutions from readers. Thanks. Many youngsters are so influenced by these articles that they want to take up a course in forensic sciences. I have received requests from several youngsters wanting to know the name of the universities where they can study this course. Athreya Arvind writes from 4th Block Jayanagar, Bangalore,"I am a student of arts. To take up a course in forensic science, is it necessary to be a science student?" DineshChandra Haobijam writes from Nongthymmai, Shillong,"I am much influenced by your articles on crime and detection. How can I take up a course in forensic science? Being a student from the North-East, I have nowhere to collect information from. Please guide me." Quite surprisingly, I am getting letters even from young girls who want to take up a career in forensic science. Young Aditi from Tilak Nagar, Jaipur wants to know the same thing which our other two friends want. Well, first of all let me thank all of you youngsters who are showing so much interest in my articles. I am sure one day you could all become good forensic scientists. I am sorry Athreya, but I am afraid if you have to take up a course in forensic sciences, you must be a science student. Many universities in India offer M.Sc. courses in Forensic Sciences. The ones I am aware of are (i) Punjabi University, Patiala (ii) Sagar University, Madhya Pradesh and (iii) Tamil Nadu University. If someone is aware of other universities offering courses in forensic sciences, please let me know for the benefit of all. To be eligible for these courses, you should have a bachelor's degree (B.Sc.), preferably with a first division in physics, chemistry, zoology or botany. You must write to the academic registrar of these universities to find out the details regarding the admission requirements. Once you have done the M.Sc. successfully, you can even go for a Ph.D. in Forensic Sciences. In your M.Sc. course you can choose a field of specialization such as forensic ballistics ( the science of guns, arms and ammunition), Forensic entomology (the science dealing with how insects can help in crime detection), or forensic botany (the science dealing with the application of botanical knowledge for the detection of crime) etc. Once you have done this course, the job opportunities are very good. The work is glamorous and satisfying and the salary is handsome. Alternatively you may become a forensic pathologist. This is what I am working as. These people apply medical knowledge for the detection of crime. The range of work of these people is very wide. I personally feel that it is the most glamorous branch of forensic science. Perhaps this is because I am myself working in this field. These people perform post-mortem examinations and solve crime. The nature of their work is such that they deal with the detection of murders very closely. We also have to attend courts of law very frequently as medical witnesses. You must have seen in movies and serials quite frequently that a doctor is called to opine as to how a particular person was killed, who killed him, when was he killed, and so on. These are the forensic pathologists. To become a forensic pathologist, you will have to get admission in M.B.B.S. first. After passing this examination you must take up an M.D. degree in Forensic Medicine. Most medical colleges in India offer this course. But the most glamorous are the ones offered by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Maulana Azad Medical College. Those students who can afford, can go to foreign universities to take up a course in forensic medicine. British Universities offer a one year course in forensic medicine. It is called "Diploma in Medical Jurisprudence" (D.M.J.). One must preferably go to Scotland to take up this course. Traditionally Scotland has been known as the "Home of Forensic Medicine". I was lucky enough to be attached to this university for more than a year. Those desirous of a more detailed knowledge must get in touch with:- Prof Anthony Busuttil Regius Professor of Forensic Medicine, Forensic Medicine Unit, Department of Pathology, University Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG SCOTLAND, UK I hope this satisfies the curiosity of most youngsters. If there are any further questions, I shall be most happy to answer them. This time I am going to tell you about a very interesting case which I solved last year. A cheque was brought to me, which was supposed to have been forged. I was to tell the police whether the cheque had really been forged or not. Well, the whole story was like this. A 37 year old man Ramesh Chand had got some house repairing work done from a contractor Mange Lal. At the end of the work, the payment due to Mange Lal was Rs. 5,000. Ramesh Chand made out a cheque of the Vaish Co-Operative New Bank Ltd, DaryaGanj, for Rs. 5,000 to Mange Lal. However when Mange Lal got this check, he played a little trick. He added a zero in front of the figure 5,000. Thus the check became for Rs. 50,000. However in all cheques there is a place where the amount has to be written in words too. This provision is made only to ensure that such frauds do not occur frequently. For instance making 50,000 from 5,000 is quite easy. One has to just add a zero in front of 5,000. But to change the words "five thousand" to "fifty thousand" is somewhat more difficult. However Mange Lal seemed quite expert in these matters. He deleted the letters "ve" from the word "five", and instead added the letters "fty". Thus the letter "five" became "fifty". Then he went to the bank and encashed the cheque. The cashier took extra care to examine the authenticity of the check, since the check was for a very big amount. He counterchecked the signatures of Ramesh Chand kept in the bank's records. Since Mange Lal had not interfered with the signatures at all, the signatures tallied. Finding the cheque okay, the cashier consulted the Bank Manager and then encashed the cheque. About a week later when Ramesh Chand went to get his pass book completed, he came to know that he had been duped by Mange Lal. He immediately complained to the Bank Manager about it. The police was called and Mange Lal was apprehended in no time. Quite surprisingly did not seem perturbed. He quite coolly maintained that he had committed no fraud. He indeed had to recover a sum of 50,000 from Ramesh Chand. He (Ramesh Chand) had made out the cheque himself, because he had genuinely to pay Mange Lal that amount. Seeing the confidence of Mange Lal, I was quite sure that only two possibilities existed now. Either Ramesh Chand indeed owed that much money to Mange Lal. Or else, Mange Lal was so confident of his forgery that he was sure nobody could pin him down. Ramesh Chand denied this statement of Mange Lal quite vehemently. He asserted that Mange Lal was duping everyone by speaking a blatant lie. The Bank manager was requested to take out the check from his record room, so that it could be examined. This was the only way to check who was speaking the truth. When the check was brought for the examination of all, it indeed showed the amount Rs.50,000 written over it both in figures and words. Tried hard as one could, no one could find any sign of addition or alteration in it. If at all Mange Lal had forged the cheque, he had done it very deftly. Finally the case was brought to me for opinion. So much for the case. When I examined the cheque, I found that it was indeed impossible to find any additions or alterations by naked eye examination. So indeed it appeared that Mange Lal was speaking the truth. But such cases can not and should not be dismissed so lightly. A detailed scientific examination is required before a final word could be said about such matters. Therefore a word may be said here about erasures before we proceed further. Documents are often made fraudulent by the erasure of important information on a document and the subsequent addition of new data or information. The documents which are frequently changed in this manner (for some or the other gain) are share deeds, inheritance wills, contracts, university degrees, letters offering jobs, passports, birth and marriage certificates, ration cards and of course cheques. It is not infrequent for a terrorist to steal a valid passport, erase the important personal information on it, add one's own particulars in it, and then use that forged passport to run away to other countries. Similarly wills may be changed to dupe someone of his rightful share. Erasures can be made in one of three ways. One way is the so-called chemical erasure. In this type of erasure, some chemical such as oxalic acid is used to remove the writing from the document. In fact, one can easily get "ink-removers" from the market, which contain some kind of chemical or bleaching agent to remove the stains. The second way is abrasive erasure. Erasure by common household rubber comes under this class. You must have noticed that ink stains can not be removed by rubber. Thus commonly ink stains are removed by chemical erasure. But even ink stains may be removed by abrasive method. For this one must buy a special rubber, which has sand grains in it. This rubber is commonly kept by the typists to remove typewritten matter. The sand grains rub the paper fibers very harshly and remove them from the paper, the ink stains coming out along with them. Even if you do not have this kind of rubber with you, you could still remove an ink stain by taking a blade, scalpel or a sharp knife and scratching the paper with the sharp tip. This is also a form of abrasive erasure. Abrasion types of erasures are the easiest to detect because abrasive method disturbs the fibers of the paper. As you must be knowing, paper is made from wood pulp, and is thus composed of fibers. These fibers may not be visible on naked eye examination, but they are very clearly seen on microscopic examination. If some written matter has been erased from the surface of the paper by abrasive means, the delicate arrangement of the fibers will be disturbed. This disturbed arrangement could very easily be seen through the microscope. In addition, the coating of the paper will also be disturbed. The third type of erasure are the lift off ribbon erasures. These are special kinds of erasures. This method is applied in modern electronic typewriters. This type can remove any type of written material from the paper. Basically it consists of applying a strip of adhesive tape over the written line, and then jerking the strip off the surface of the paper. The fibers of the paper along with anything written over them will adhere to the adhesive tape, and come off along with it. This method can be easily demonstrated at home. Take any written material, which you can not remove by any means. An old book or magazine will be ideal. It is almost impossible to erase the printed word by either chemical or abrasive means. Now take the normal adhesive tape, stick a small strip over a written line and then take it off the surface of the paper with a little jerk. You will find that the written line will be erased instantaneously. This type of erasures can usually be detected with the aid of oblique lighting to see the indentations. The most difficult erasure to detect is the carefully conducted chemical erasure of writing ink. Mange Lal was aware of this (He was perhaps reading too much of scientific crime literature!). So he had used some kind of bleaching agent to erase the writing. However every crime does leave its trace and can be detected by one or the other means. Even this technique disturbs the coating of the surface of the paper and an examination under a special kind of light will usually reveal stains of the removed ink. This light is known as the Ultraviolet light or simply as UV light. This light comes from the sun also but in very minute quantities. It can however be produced in the lab. If the document is examined under the UV light, it will reveal the erased writing ( Please reproduce fig 14.7 on page 699 here). You might be wondering as to how this is possible. Actually most inks shine brightly when exposed to UV light. This property is known as fluorescence. In other words we can say that inks fluoresce in UV light. Even when the ink is erased from the document (cheques, certificates etc.), the area where the ink was present retains the fluorescent properties of the ink. If such a document is exposed to UV light, we can see the erased writing, as shown in the diagram. When I examined the disputed cheque under UV light, I found to my surprize that the letters "ve" were shining in front of the letters "fi". Above the shining letters "ve" were written the words, "fty". This clearly showed that the letters "ve" had been deleted by Mange Ram, and the letters "fty" added afterwards. When Mange Ram was shown a photograph of this cheque taken under UV light, ( which clearly showed the letters "five thousand"), he collapsed and admitted his guilt. He said that he had wanted to make a quick buck, and that is why he had played this trick. The court admitted my scientific evidence, and Mange Ram was given a sentence of 2 years of rigorous imprisonment.

Forensic Jokes, Puns & Tidbits Forensic Poems The Toxic Avenger From the grave, if lips could speak the person who was, pleads – you must seek the individual who had my trust, and thru deceit and cunning into the grave did thrust this body once alive and well, now silenced by death, who can not tell my death was NOT what all thought then, for a poison brought my life to end! Avenge me now, for you alone can find the truth beneath the stone. Look close and the clues you will see that tell the tale of what killed me. For you must tell all others now, That this was MURDER – and tell them how! For if no one looks to find what’s here, An injustice was done to a life so dear. If now only you could hear, My muted pleadings to make wants clear. I’d speak as plain as it could be. Since I can’t – You must AVENGE ME! -Anonymous. From a promotional leaflet on the book “Criminal Poisoning” by John Harris Trestrail, III (Acknowledgement: This leaflet was sent to me by John Harris Trestrail, III of the Regional Poison Center, Grand Rapids, MI) Milton Helpern (1902-1977) What kind of man is he we honor here, A doctor who has served his science well? Why, yes, of course, but most of us could tell Of science or profession served. A peer Without a peer in his own field and sphere? Why, yes, that too, but more than this, his spell Is cast by greatness of the mind. We dwell On inner strengths of character so dear To all who know him, radiance that springs From hidden depths of manliness and truth. These are the constant hallmarks of the soul That draw us to the man, these are the things Of which we offer now as humble proof The heartfelt testimony of this scroll -Anonymous. From the book “Autopsy – The Memoirs of Milton Helpern, the World’s Greatest Medical Detective” by Milton Helpern, M.D. with Bernard Knight, M.D. (Acknowledgement: This book was kindly lent to me by Dr. R.K. Sharma of the DDU Hospital)

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Forensic Toxicology THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE SEPTEMBER 2000 ISSUE THE POISON SLEUTHS DEATH BY BOTULINUM TOXIN -Dr. Anil Aggrawal “Good morning doctor. Oh, my God, what are you doing today? You have the dead body of a young man today. What happened to him? Please tell me.” “Good morning Tarun. The name of this young man is Badal and he died in the hospital today morning, i.e. on 16th September at about 9 am. The doctors could not find out the cause of his death. He is only 25 years old, and everybody is concerned why he died. That is why the police has brought his body to me. My job of course is to find out how he died.” “Please explain the circumstances of his death doctor.” “Badal and Shatru were friends and they both loved a 21 year old girl Sudha. Both wanted to marry her, but Shatru could go to any length to get her. It so happened that Sudha showed more interest in Badal. Many times Shatru had asked Badal to get out of his way, otherwise the consequences would not be good for him. But Badal ignored his threats taking them to be just friendly pranks. On the outside both of them remained as friends, although it appeared to many that Shatru held a grudge against Badal. Badal was working as a clerk in a local private company and was living alone on a rented flat. On 12th September Shatru came to his flat in the evening with a bottle of whiskey apparently to celebrate his birthday. They both had whiskey together, and had dinner together. On 13th Badal was fine. On 14th morning, Badal started having some strange symptoms. First he had nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal distension and abdominal pain. He thought he was having an ordinary bout of diarrhea and contacted a local doctor for this. He too thought that he was having an attack of gastroenteritis, and prescribed some standard medicines. But they could not prove beneficial. On 15th morning, Badal developed double vision, technically known as diplopia, difficulty in speaking (dysarthria and dysphonia) and difficulty in swallowing (dysphagia). He became alarmed, informed one of his neighbors who immediately took him to a nearby hospital, where the doctors started investigating his illness. At the hospital, he reported some additional symptoms. He had dizziness, very dry and sore throat, blurred vision and drooping of eyelids. But the most alarming symptom of all was a paralysis of the muscles of his face and neck, which gradually moved downwards. That means that after the development of paralysis of muscles of his face and neck, first his arm muscles became paralysed, and then his leg muscles. Quite remarkably there was no fever. I have talked to the doctors who were treating him, and I have been told that his pupils were dilated. The doctors tried their level best to save him, but he died today morning, i.e. after about 48 hours of having those strange symptoms. On hearing his death, Badal’s family members have arrived here from the capital. They are blaming Shatru for his death. They think that when Shatru came to Badal’s house on 12th, he probably gave him some poison mixed in whiskey. They say that Shatru could do anything to get him out of his way. They are obviously very well connected. There was tremendous pressure on police to catch Shatru, and they have caught him today. But Shatru says he is innocent, and that he has done nothing.” “Doesn’t look like Shatru killed him. After all, Badal started having those symptoms almost 36 hours after he had that meal with Shatru. I have been discussing poisons with you for quite some time now. I don’t know of any poison which starts its action so late after being administered. To me it looks like he had a terrible disease. What disease did he die of doctor? Tell me.” “Tarun, I can say anything definitely only after a thorough post-mortem examination, but from the symptoms which have been told to me by the police and by the treating doctors at the hospital, I am of the opinion that Badal died of Botulism.” “Botulism? As far as I know this is a disease connected with food poisoning. Then why have the police apprehended Shatru? They must immediately release him.” “Tarun, I have asked them to continue keeping him in custody. I learnt that Shatru had studied microbiology at M.Sc. level. So I don’t want to take chances. I want to exclude everything, before I can say anything with confidence. In one of my earlier discussions with you (See Science Reporter May 1998 issue), I told you that 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. So the first thing I did was to exclude barium poisoning in this case, by checking for barium levels in various organs of Badal. And I could safely exclude barium poisoning, as I did not find any barium there.” “But if it is not barium, how can it be botulism? I mean how could Shatru give him Botulism even if he wanted to?” “Tarun, do you know that Botulin toxin is now used as a medicine too? And that medicine is available in vials. A certain number of vials, if mixed in one’s food, can definitely kill a person.” “A toxin being used as a medicine? Never heard of that. Looks like we are on to one more of your fantastic poison stories. Well, why don’t we begin from the beginning?” “Tarun, Botulism is a disease caused by the gram positive bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Before proceeding further I may tell you that the term gram positive refers to certain bacteria which take up a violet stain when stained with a special staining technique called gram staining. Gram staining was developed in 1884 by a Danish physician Hans Christian Joachim Gram (1853-1938). Bacteria which take up a pink color by this staining method are referred to as gram negative bacteria. So much so about gram staining and its nomenclature. So I was telling you about the Clostridium botulinum bacterium. I may tell you that its name comes from Latin botulus, meaning sausage. Indeed consumption of contaminated sausage was one of the major causes of this condition, when it was first recognized. It can however be caused by contamination of any type of foodstuff - vegetarian and non vegetarian. This bacterium is present in soil and infected water. Improper canning of foods at home may cause some contamination of food with soil or infected water during the process of canning. When canning is complete, the contents inside are devoid of air, a condition which is very much loved by these bacteria. In fact in technical terms Clostridium botulinum is known as a strict anaerobe, which means that a lack of oxygen is necessary for its growth; it gets killed in the presence of oxygen. This might appear paradoxical to you, since we are so used to talking about organisms which need oxygen for growth, but this is a fact. In an environment, which lacks oxygen, i.e. the closed can, these organism keep on multiplying. They produce a toxin known as botulin, which is supposed to be the most toxic substance found in nature. When someone consumes this food, he unwittingly consumes the toxin, and immediately becomes sick. He is said to be suffering from botulism. And he depicts almost the same symptoms, which were shown by Badal before his death. To summarize, we can say that Botulism is caused when food contaminated with Clostridium botulinum is canned or otherwise stored for long periods in anaerobic conditions.” “Doctor, many bacteria have different strains. Are there different strains of these bacteria too?” “Yes, there are eight different types of botulinum toxins have been described, and all of them are released by different strains of bacteria. They are all Clostridium botulinum, but differ in very subtle ways, so they are known as different strains of Clostridium botulinum. These different toxins are designated as A, B, C1, C2, D, E, F, and G. All are neurotoxins (poisons affecting the nerves), except for C2, which is a cytotoxin (poison having a direct effect on cells). Its significance is not clear. All these toxins are proteinaceous in nature, and thus antibodies against them may be prepared. However antibodies against any one of these toxins is effective only against that particular toxin and not against any other. Human poisoning mostly occurs due to A, B, and E. Type E poisoning is frequently associated with fish products. Rarely F and G can also cause human poisoning. C1, C2, and D cause poisoning in some mammals and birds. The toxin is not destroyed by acid or proteolytic (protein splitting) enzymes, but is heat labile and is destroyed when heated to 800C for 30 minutes, or 1000C for 10 minutes as during routine home cooking. It is thus a good practice to heat the canned food properly before cooking. Botulinum Toxin A (also known as BTX-A) has been isolated as a pure crystalline protein and is the most potent toxin known to man. You may be surprised at the fatal dose of this toxin. It is just 1 pg (10-12 g)/kg of body weight. This means that just about 10-10 g of toxin is required to kill a 100 Kg man! Even lesser doses would be required for ordinary human beings weighing 60-70 kg. Another figure may give you some idea of its lethality. One g of BTX-A toxin would kill 30,000 million mice! About 3 million molecules injected in the abdomen of a mouse would kill it. That would sound like lot of molecules, but the very fact that its lethal dose can be described in terms of molecules rather than in milligrams or grams speaks volumes about its lethality! So less is the fatal dose of BTX-A that it is often measured in a special unit called a mouse unit. It is a very small quantity. One Mouse Unit of BTX-A is equal to just 3 x 107 molecules. Again because of its such high lethality, many nations have seriously thought about using it as a biological weapon. As a biowarfare or terrorist agent, exposure is likely to occur following inhalation of aerosolized toxin or ingestion of food contaminated with the preformed toxin or microbial spores. Recently, Iraq admitted to active research on the offensive use of botulinum toxins and that they weaponized and deployed over 100 munitions with botulinum toxin in 1995.” “Oh, that is really interesting. Doctor, does this bacterium forms spores too?” “Oh, yes. The bacteria does form spores, when it finds that the conditions have become difficult for it to live. These spores (in contrast to toxin) are highly heat resistant, requiring exposure to moist heat at 1200C for 30 minutes for inactivation, as in steam sterilizers or pressure cookers. The spores are ubiquitous. They are present in soil, sea water and even air. Earlier I was telling about the fatal dose of BTX-A. I must tell you that its fatal period is just about 24 hours. I may also tell you that the toxins formed by Clostridium botulinum are known as exotoxins. Very broadly speaking exotoxins are those toxins which are produced by bacteria while they are still alive. On the contrary, there are certain other bacteria which release toxins when they get killed. Their cell walls rupture and the toxins are released. Those toxins are known as endotoxins. Thus the correct term for Botulinum toxin type A is BTX-A exotoxin.” “That is a lot of information doctor. You told that these bacteria make toxins while remaining in the can. Then the food inside must get spoiled too. Then why at all does someone consume such food?” “Unfortunately that is not the case. The food may or may not appear spoiled, depending on what strain of bacteria attacked it. If it released proteolytic enzymes, (the enzymes which break down proteins) along with the toxin, the food would spoil, otherwise not. Food contaminated by type A and B bacteria often appear putrefied, because they release proteolytic enzymes too. In contrast food infected with type E bacteria may look and taste normal, as they do not produce proteolytic enzymes. There are however ways to prevent botulism. First of all, if you are buying cans of food from a supermarket, never buy cans which are leaking, spouting, dented or otherwise show any other sign of abnormality. This is because the bacteria may release gases during their activity. And this build up of gas pressure inside the can may cause all these effects. Secondly all canned items should be cooked thoroughly by boiling and stirring for 15 minutes. This destroys any toxin if it is present. Commercial canners usually heat food to at least 1200C to guarantee the destruction of both toxins and spores. If you don’t want to use the food cans immediately, the cans should be frozen or refrigerated at very low temperatures. This is because some strains, especially type E, can produce toxin at temperatures as low as 50C. So a temperature lower than this must be achieved. There are some precautions suggested for those who do canning of food at home. One is the use of phosphoric and citric acids during canning. This is because the optimum pH for the growth of these bacteria is between 4.6 to 7.0. pH above and below this range are not conducive to their growth. Acid environment obviously is not conducive to their growth, and the use of phosphoric and citric acids provide a sound acidic environment. This is also the reason why acidic fruits may generally be safely canned. Many other facts seem to prove that an acidic environment prevents the growth of C. botulinum. Infants below the age of one year seem to become victims of infant botulism for the reason that their gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) is deficient in bile acids and gastric acid, which normally prevent the growth of C. botulinum. For preventing botulism, it has also been suggested that if you are canning meat at home, it should be cured with sodium nitrite (3.5% to 6%). This is said to prevent botulism, as sodium nitrite has an antimicrobial, especially antibotulinal activity. There is however a controversy that when such cured meats are fried, the nitrites may get converted to nitrosamines, a known carcinogen. But this is a different controversy and we would not concentrate it here now.” “Doctor, how does Botulinum A Exotoxin work? “BTX-A is an enzyme. It produces its effects by preventing release of acetylcholine (ACh) from the nerve endings. This chemical is very necessary for the transmission of impulses across nerves. Thus in a way the connections between nerves become ‘dead’, and the activities of the whole organism come to a stand still. Do you remember how Badal had a paralysis of his arms and legs? This is typical of botulism. Actually it was this symptom, which partly alerted me and made me think in this direction. I may tell you that the symptoms of food borne botulism start within about 18-36 hours of ingestion of contaminated food. After having food with Shatru, Badal also developed his symptoms roughly in the same time period. This period has often been referred to as the incubation period, but it is a actually a misnomer. The illness may be very mild for which no medical advice may be sought, or it may be so fulminant as to cause death within 24 hours. Badal died within three and a half days.” “Doctor, you have just mentioned a term “food borne botulism”. Does this mean there are other forms of botulism too?” “Oh yes. In fact the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, USA (often referred to as CDC) currently classifies four different types of botulism. The first is the food borne botulism, which occurs from ingestion of preformed toxins. This is the best known form, and I have been talking about this form till now. The second form is infant botulism, which occurs mostly in infants below 6 months of age (90% cases). Rest of the cases occur between the ages of 6 months to 1 year. It occurs not from the ingestion of preformed toxins, but from ingestion of spores, which germinate in the mildly alkaline environment of the intestines, and produce toxin in-vivo, which gets absorbed. In adults the bile acids and the gastric acid tend to restrict the growth of C. botulinum. But the gastrointestinal tract of infants lacks these acids, and this factor may be responsible for their growth. Since the toxin is formed within the intestine and is absorbed gradually, the symptoms and signs are less dramatic, compared to adult type food-borne botulism, where preformed toxin is ingested all at once. The first signs to toxicity in infant botulism are constipation, feeding difficulty, feeble crying, and a “floppy” baby with diffuse decreased muscle tone, particularly apparent in the limbs and neck. Infant botulism is the most common form of botulism. Certain infants are more susceptible to infant botulism, while others seem resistant. The reason for this strange phenomenon is not clear. It is believed that giving of honey to infants may be a source of infection, as it contains spores of C. botulinum. Giving of honey to young infants is thus not advised now. The third form is Wound botulism, which occurs due to contamination of wounds with spores of C. botulinum. This usually occurs when they get soiled with dirt and nothing is done about it. The condition is also seen in chronic drug abusers and after caesarian delivery. This entity was first noted in California in 1976. This has now become the most common form of botulism. The symptoms and signs are quite similar to those seen in food borne botulism, except for the fact that gastric symptoms like nausea and vomiting are absent in wound botulism. Finally there is the Indeterminate type, which occurs in patients over 1 year of age with no recognized source for disease. Some authorities suggest that a mechanism similar to infant botulism may be at work here. Their studies suggest that the adults may ingest spores of C. botulinum, which may germinate in the gut, much like they do in infants. Several factors such as achlorhydria in these people, i.e. lack of acid in the stomach may be responsible for their germination. You may recall that I told you strongly acidic environments restrict the growth of this bacteria.” “Yes, I do. Doctor, in the beginning you told that this toxin is also used as a medicine. How can this toxin - which you say is the most dangerous toxin in the world - be used as a medicine? To me this sounds like a paradox.” “Tarun, now it is known that wrinkles in old people are caused by sustained contraction of facial muscles. If somehow these muscles could be paralysed, these wrinkles would go away too. BTX-A does this remarkably well. This toxin in nanogram doses is used for removal of wrinkles. Injection of BTX-A directly in these muscles causes their paralysis, which are then allowed to weaken by atrophy over a 3-week period. Similarly the toxin has been used in the treatment of certain eye disorders such as blepharospasm (abnormal contraction of eye lids) and in squint surgery. Commercially BTX-A is available under two different trade names - BOTOX and Dysport (produced by Speywood, Maidenhead, United Kingdom). BOTOX is prepared by a multiple precipitation technique, whereas Dysport is produced by column-based methods. These are technical terms and you need not bother about them. Suffice it to say, that this difference in production methods produces a differential between the effects on humans and mice. In particular, the dose (in mouse units) of Dysport required to produce a given effect is 3 to 4 times greater than the dose of BOTOX. Now I will come to the most important point. Work in primates, in conjunction with estimates derived from accidental botulism, suggests a human fatal dose of approximately 40 U/Kg if the toxin is delivered systemically. The BOTOX vial contains 100 units; the Dysport vial, 500 units. Thus a few vials if mixed in someone’s whiskey would be enough to kill him. This is actually what Shatru had done. I suspected him the moment I came to know that he was a brilliant student of microbiology and also when I heard the typical symptoms of Badal. I have chemically examined the blood of Badal and it shows BTX-A. I did not stop at that. I also did bioassays which proved that the blood of Badal contained something which paralyses muscles.” “What is a bioassay doctor? “Bioassay is a term which refers to determining a chemical by biological means. I prepared an extract from Badal’s serum, and injected it in mice. By doing this, I could produce paralysis in mice, which was a positive indication that some abnormal substance was there in Badal’s blood. I have lab reports to show to the court that this abnormal substance was in fact BTX-A. Now I will tell you one more secret. I sent policemen to Shatru’s house and they have recovered some empty BOTOX vials from his house. These vials had no business being present in his house, which tells us that he is the one who mixed those vials surreptitiously in Badal’s whiskey. Come let us tell the police to put him under more sustained questioning, and he would surely spill the beans.” “That is very clever of you doctor. Without your clever deduction it would have been impossible to say how Badal died and Shatru may have gone scot-free. What are you going to tell me next time?” “Tarun, next time, I would tell you about a very interesting poison - Lithium.”

Forensic Toxicology THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE SEPTEMBER 1997 ISSUE THE POISON SLEUTHS POISONING BY RATTI SEEDS -Dr. Anil Aggrawal "Good morning doctor. Oh, my God, what are you doing today? Oh well, today you are examining the dead body of a young man. Oh, my God, what happened to him? He has a nasty looking puncture mark on his neck" "Good morning Tarun. The name of this farmer is Mahesh Lodi, and he is 25 years old. He has died in the most intriguing circumstances. About 6 days back, his neighbor Kiran visited him at about 10 in the morning, and demanded that he (Mahesh) should stop meeting his sister Geeta, with whom he was having a regular affair. Reportedly Mahesh refused to do this, as he was in deep love with her. Seeing that Mahesh was quite adamant, Kiran changed his stance and became suddenly soft. Apparently he wanted to leave his house, but before leaving, he asked Mahesh that he wanted to go to the bathroom to relieve himself. Mahesh who was quite relieved by Kiran's changed stance, happily showed him the way." "And so the matter was resolved there and then" "Not in the least Tarun. Actually Kiran and his family members had implored Mahesh on this count several times in the past too, because they wanted to marry her in a different family of their own caste, but Mahesh had refused point blank to stop meeting her. Reportedly even Geeta was adamant about this relationship, and that's why they wanted to pressurize Mahesh. This time, Kiran had come to settle this issue once and for all. After coming back from the bathroom, Kiran changed his stance once again, and began abusing Mahesh. Mahesh was completely taken aback by this renewed hostility. A physical tussle ensued between the two. During the tussle, there was naturally a liberal exchange of slaps and blows. During one such blow on the back of his neck, Mahesh felt as if something very sharp had stung him, but as he had a tough fight on his hands, he had to take care of Kiran first. Soon after he was able to push Kiran out of his house. After Kiran left the house, Mahesh tried to feel the area on the back of his neck where he had felt the sting, but as the area was behind his back, he could not examine it minutely and soon forgot about it. As he was feeling quite exhausted after the tussle, he went to the kitchen and drank a glass of water from the jug. Soon after, Mahesh started feeling unwell. The next day he had a nauseating feeling and vomited a few times. He contacted a doctor, who found that his pulse was rapid, and he was running a mild temperature. Thinking that he was probably running viral fever, he prescribed some fever lowering drugs (antipyretics) and pain killers (analgesics). But apparently there wasn't much relief. Day before yesterday, his condition worsened. He started feeling much weaker. He had diarrhoea too, and reportedly passed blood in his stools. He contacted his doctor again, who noted a peculiar puncture mark on the back of his neck, which was inflamed, which as you know means that it was looking angry red. Taking it to be a mosquito bite, he preferred to ignore it, although Mahesh was complaining of itching and local discomfort there. The doctor also noted that he had a weak but rapid pulse, cold perspiration and trembling of hands. He advised him to contact a City Hospital. But before he could arrange to go to the City Hospital, Mahesh collapsed and died. The doctor refused to give a death certificate, as he couldn't ascertain the cause of his death. So the police seized his body, and has brought it to me for post-mortem examination, so that I could tell them the cause of his death" "Very interesting indeed! It appears that Mahesh started having his symptoms only after he had a physical tussle with Kiran. The symptoms indicate that he was probably poisoned, but Kiran did not give him anything to eat. It could be that he surreptitiously mixed some poison in his water or food, before he left his house." "I can't deny this possibility, except for the fact that it is very unlikely. Kiran indeed went to the bathroom just before the fight, and it is indeed possible that instead of going to the bathroom, he went to the kitchen and mixed some poison in the water or food. But if he had done that, it was much safer for him to leave immediately after coming back from the "bathroom". Why would he unnecessarily pick up the fight?" "That indeed makes sense? Then why did he go to the bathroom? Do you sincerely think that he wanted to relieve himself?" "Doesn't seem very likely, especially considering the fact that immediately after coming from the bathroom, he changed his stance once again. I would rather say that he did go to the bathroom, but for a different purpose." "And what was that?" "To fix a poisonous needle between his fingers. These poisonous needles were probably lying in his pocket. When he went to the bathroom, he fixed one such needle between his fingers. That's why when he struck a blow on the back of Mahesh's neck, it was felt by him as a sting. In fact, with that blow, he had inserted the needle in the flesh of his neck" "Sounds quite interesting to me. But what poison could it be? "Tarun, I have dissected the area of the back of the neck, and I indeed have extricated this needle. Look, here it is." "Oh indeed, but it is not a metallic needle. Looks rather like a thorn to me" "Yes, indeed it is not a metallic needle. It is called sui or sutari in vernacular, and is made from a poisonous plant known as ratti in local language. Botanically this plant is known as Abrus precatorius." Ratti ( Abrus precatorius ) seeds "Oh, so it is a thorn from this plant?" "No, it is not a thorn of this plant. It is made after quite a painstaking effort. But before I dwell on this subject further, let me tell you a little bit more about this plant, so you can follow me more intelligently." "Please go ahead doctor. I am all ears" "Let us begin with the name of the plant, which itself tells us a lot. The name of the genus is Abrus which means graceful. It actually refers to the plant's beautiful flowers. The term precatorius is derived from precor, which means "to pray" because the seeds are often used as ornamental beans in rosaries meant for prayers. Several ornamental souvenirs are also made from these seeds. The plant is commonly known as Ratti or Gunchi in India. You might recall that ancient Indian weights and measures included tola, masha and ratti. This ratti referred to the weight of a single ratti seed. This seed was chosen as a standard weight in ancient Indian system, because its seed is fairly constant in weight; on an average, it weighs about 105 mg." "That is most interesting indeed." "There are more interesting facts related to this plant. The seed is known by several names, some of the more common ones are Rosary pea, because it is frequently used in rosaries - garlands meant for worship. For the same reason, it is also known as Buddhist's rosary bead or prayer bead. It has some other interesting names too. Some of these are Jequirity bean, Indian bean, Crab's eyes, Black-Eyed Susan and Indian Licorice. Licorice or liquorice is actually a European leguminous plant, known botanically as Glycyrrhiza glabra. The sweet tasting dried root of this plant, or an extract made from it, is used in medicine or as flavoring in confectioneries. Since the roots of abrus plant are also sweet tasting, the Europeans have named it Indian licorice. The plant is native to tropical Asia, especially India. It however grows in most warm, humid climates all over the world such as in the Caribbean islands and Florida. All parts of the plant are toxic, but the seeds contain the highest concentration of toxins." "What does this plant look like doctor? Can we identify it easily?" "Of course you can. It is a tender, twining plant which is woody at the base. The leaves are compound, featherlike, with 10 to 15 pairs of narrow leaflets 1/2 to 1 inch long. Flowers are pealike, 3/8 inch long, purple pink, yellowish or whitish. Seed pod is much like the pod of the ordinary edible pea; it is 1-2 inches long, borne in clusters, green when immature, becoming brown and dry, splitting open, and remaining on vine with seeds displayed. Seeds are quite attractive, and it is for this reason, that they are used for ornamental purposes. They are usually vivid scarlet with black spot at base. Some may be white with a black spot, others may be all white, or all black, yellow or even blue. In one pod there are about 4-6 seeds. The seed is oval or round, with a diameter of about quarter of an inch. It is pale and soft when immature, but hard, dry and glossy when ripe. "What poison do the seeds contain doctor?" "The seeds contain the deadly poison abrin, which is mainly responsible for the toxicity of this plant. It contains some other toxic substances too, but abrin is most dangerous. The sweet taste of the root is due to glycyrrhizin." "Doctor, you told me about Kiran using a sui to kill Mahesh. And you also told me that this sui is made in a very complicated way. Can you tell me more about it? And why can't one just mix the seeds in some food? What is the necessity of this complicated step of making needles out of this plant?" "Tarun, you have asked several interesting questions in one go. Let me explain them one by one. The seeds are about 100 times less poisonous when taken by mouth than when injected directly in the system. That is why killers prefer to make needles and inject them directly. The needles are made in quite an interesting way. The seeds are first decorticated i.e. their outer covering is removed. The decorticated seeds are powdered and then usually mixed with datura, opium, onion or powdered glass...." "Sorry to interrupt you doctor, but you have used several terms. What are datura and opium?" "They are also different poisons Tarun. We shall discuss them in some detail in our later meetings. For the time being you can remember that these are just some poisons which are used in this method. To be sure, their use is not an absolute necessity, as ratti seeds by themselves are quite poisonous, but apparently the killers want to leave no stone unturned!" "Wow! The killers are methodical too." "Certainly, why not. Well, the powder is then made into a paste with spirit and water, and long needles are fashioned out of this paste. The needles are about 1.5 cm in length - about the length of your thumbnail- and weigh about 100 mg on an average. These needles are then dried in the sun. When dry, they are known as suis or sutaris and are ready for use. As you know the name sui refers to a needle in Hindi. I have already told you how the killer uses these needles for killing. He may hold one or two such suis in his palm between his closely held fingers (the way one holds a cigarette; only much more tightly). The victim is then slapped in such a way that the suis penetrate the flesh. The effect is similar to giving an injection of abrin to the victim, and is thus obviously quite effective. You might be surprised to know that even animals are killed by this method. Almost the same method is used to kill animals too. Animals are usually killed for revenge. To take the revenge from an enemy, it is usual for a villager to kill his cattle! Animals may also be killed to prepare hides. The only difference in the method of killing is that in this case, the suis are attached to a wooden handle and the handle is then struck forcefully on the animal's buttocks. The needles find their way deep in the animal's flesh, from where the active ingredients slowly ooze out into the system, and the animal dies over a period of 3-4 days. The advantage of using this method, is that the injection marks of these suis look quite like viper bite (the necrosis around the marks is quite similar to that), and the owner of the cattle believes that his cattle were unfortunately bitten by the viper. Any chance of counter-revenge is thus averted. A clever killer may so arrange the distance between the two suis on a handle, as to completely mimic the distance between the two fangs of a viper!" "Oh, how very ingenious. I only wish killers could use their ingenuity for constructive purposes." "You can say that again Tarun. I sent the needle recovered from Mahesh's neck for chemical analysis, and it is found to contain high amounts of abrin. That proves my contention that Kiran indeed used the sui to kill Mahesh. I alerted the police to catch Kiran who would probably have gone scot free, but for this post-mortem examination. The police raided his house and have recovered lot of ratti seeds and some suis from his possession. In fact several ratti plants were growing in the backyard of his house. Subsequently the police questioned him. Initially he kept denying his involvement, but when faced with autopsy findings, he broke down and admitted his guilt. According to him, going to toilet was actually an excuse for fixing the needles in his palms. When Mahesh had refused to agree to his request, he had immediately made up his mind to kill him. In fact when he started out from home, he had kept this option in his mind, and for that reason, he had kept a handful of ratti needles in his pocket." "Fantastic! That indeed is a most outrageous poison solved in a most ingenious way. You indeed are a great poison sleuth. What are you going to tell me next time?" "Tarun, next time I shall tell you about a very deadly poison- Thallium. "

Forensic Toxicology THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE NOVEMBER 1998 ISSUE THE POISON SLEUTHS DEATH BY ARGEMONE MEXICANA -Dr. Anil Aggrawal "Good morning doctor. Oh, my God, what are you doing today? You have the dead body of a young man today. His whole body is swollen, especially his legs. What happened to him? Please tell me." "Good morning Tarun. The name of this young man is Ghanshyam, and he was found dead in his hospital bed today morning. He is about 32 years old, and belongs to a low socio-economic status family. He was a champion of the cause of downtrodden, and was their leader for quite sometime now. For some days he had been complaining of marked swelling of the whole body especially of his legs. He had some gastrointestinal symptoms also such as vomiting and diarrhea, but the doctors were not very much worried about these symptoms. The main cause of worry was his swelling which could be an indication of some heart or kidney trouble. He had been admitted to the hospital and investigations were being carried out, but today morning he was found dead. Doctors were initially quite at ease giving his cause of death as kidney failure, but there was some organization of Jhuggi-Jhompri settlements, which raised the doubt that the death could have been as a result of deliberate poisoning by someone. Obviously they seem to have some political clout too. Just after a delegation met the local MLA with this doubt, an inquiry was ordered, and hence the police has brought his dead body to me. My job is to find out how he actually died." "But why would a person want to kill Ghanshyam? He does not seem to have a fight with anyone, does he?" "We do not know yet. I may remind you, that Ghanshyam was a leader of the downtrodden, and he may have had some enemies. It is not uncommon for leaders to have enemies who can go to any extent to have the leader removed from their way. It is possible that Ghanshyam had some enemies, who might have done away with him with some poison. Once his body is cremated, and then if someone raises a doubt that he had been poisoned, we would not be in a position to do anything about it. But right now, we have his body in our possession. So it is indeed very prudent to find out the right cause of death right now. Especially since this has now become such a hot political issue." "So what are you going to do now?" "I went through the hospital records, and found out what symptoms he was suffering from. I also had a detailed discussion with the doctors who were treating him. I already told you that he was having diarrhea, vomiting and marked swelling of his body, especially his legs. On inquiring from the doctors, I found out some other symptoms too. He had loss of appetite, and his liver was enlarged and tender. He complained of tingling sensations in the skin, and tenderness of the calf muscles. But what really interested me was that he was also having increased intraocular pressure.." "Sorry to interrupt you doctor, but what is meant by intraocular pressure?" "Tarun, the word intraocular is a Latin word meaning inside the eye. It is the pressure exerted by the fluid inside the eye. Normal intraocular pressure or tension is about 15 mm of Mercury, which simply means that normally the pressure inside the eye is so much as to support a column of about 15 mm of mercury. If you compare this figure with certain other commonly known figures, you would be better able to appreciate this pressure. The normal systolic blood pressure is about 120 mm of mercury, which means that the pressure generated by heart during contraction is roughly 8 times the pressure inside the eye. The normal atmospheric pressure at sea level is 760 mm of mercury, which means that it is about 50 times higher than that found inside the eye. In raised intraocular tension, the pressure rises more than 25 mm of mercury. Increase in intraocular tension is technically known as glaucoma. Rise in intraocular tension occurs in very few poisonings. Coupled with other symptoms, I at once made a certain guess about the possible poison that he might have ingested.." "What is that poison? Please tell me doctor. I am getting curious." "Tarun, it comes from a plant called Satyanashi in vernacular. Botanically it is known as Argemone mexicana." "Oh, I have heard about Satyanashi. It is a common weed found in our country, isn’t it?" "Yes, you are right Tarun. Its seeds are very much similar to that of dark variety of mustard seeds. I must tell you mustard (which is edible) has two varieties of seeds, a dark variety (Brassica nigra) and a light variety (Brassica compestris). The light variety is yellowish and quite distinctive. The seeds of Argemone mexicana give out a very poisonous oil, known as Argemone oil or katkar oil. This oil also looks very much similar to mustard oil. So katkar oil is very much used to adulterate mustard oil. It appears Ghanshyam got adulterated mustard oil from somewhere and consumed it. That is why he got these symptoms." "Just one thing doctor before we go ahead. Could you tell me, why this plant is called Argemone mexicana?" "Yeah sure Tarun. The name Argemone comes from the Greek argema, meaning "a cataract in the eye". Interestingly, the juice of this plant was once very popular in the treatment of cataract and hence the name. Of course, now it is known that it is not only useless for treating cataract, but can in fact be dangerous to the eye. The name mexicana, simply refers to its native place Mexico. I may tell you that this is originally an American herbaceous annual belonging to the family Papaveraceae, but has now become a pantropical weed throughout tropical and subtropical parts of the world. It has come to India through activities of man and occurs as a local weed in cold season, exclusively in low rainfall regions at elevation from sea level to 2,500 m. It grows wild all over the country in wastelands and along roadsides. It is called Sialkanta in Bengal and North India, Satyanashi in Gujrat and Bharamdandi or Pila-Dhatura in Maharashtra. It is known by several other names such as Ujarkanta and Phirangi Dhatura. It is a robust prickly herbaceous annual, 1-4 ft high, with spreading branches. The flowers are 1-3 inch across and are colored yellow. Seeds are blackish brown, round and netted, and as I told you earlier, resemble those of mustard (Brassica nigra). The extract of the whole plant (latex) contains two alkaloids Berberine and Protopine. Seeds yield 22-36% of a pale yellow, nauseous, bitter, non-edible oil, which as I told you earlier is known as katkar oil or simply Argemone oil. This oil is rich in two other alkaloids Sanguinarine and Dihydrosanguinarine, the former being more toxic than the latter. These latter two alkaloids are mainly responsible for the poisonous symptoms produced by ingestion of Argemone oil. It is said that if katkar oil is heated to 2400 C for 15 minutes, it loses its toxic properties. Other alkaloids of lesser importance are cheletrythrine and coptisine." "Doctor, you told me that the seeds of the dark variety of mustard look very similar to those of Argemone mexicana. Is there some test, by which the two can be differentiated?" "Oh yes. Certainly. The light variety of mustard seeds (Brassica compestris) can easily be differentiated from Argemone by simple visual inspection. The tricky part is to differentiate the dark variety of mustard seeds (Brassica nigra) with those of Argemone. This is done by placing the seeds in normal saline. Mustard seeds will sink, while Argemone seeds will float. If you have trouble remembering this fact, remember the mnemonic 'False will Float'. Remember Argemone seeds are 'false' seeds." "Oh, that is truly marvelous. Is there a scientific way to detect adulterated mustard oil too?" "Oh, yes, there certainly is. There are at least three interesting color tests to detect adulterated mustard oil. The first is the Nitric acid test. We take 5 ml of adulterated oil and mix it with an equal volume of Nitric acid. The test tube is shaken and then allowed to stand. After some time the acid layer turns yellow, orange or crimson, depending on the amount of argemone oil in the adulterated sample. This is a simple test but has the great drawback of lack of specificity. This means that there are a number of false positives. The second is Ferric Chloride test. In this test, we use three reagents, namely Hydrochloric acid, ethanol and of course ferric chloride. The test is carried out in three steps. In step 1, two ml of adulterated oil is mixed with an equal amount of Hydrochloric acid and heated in a water bath at 35 degrees Celsius for two minutes. After this 8 ml of ethanol is added and heating continued for one more minute (Step 2). Finally in the third step we add 2 ml of ferric chloride, and the mixture is heated for a further ten minutes. If an orange-red precipitate forms, it indicates adulteration with Argemone oil. Finally there is the Cupric acid test, where 5 ml. of adulterated oil in taken in a test tube. One ml. glacial acetic acid and 2 mg. of cupric acetate solution are added to it. Development of green colour confirms the presence of argemone oil in the sample. Besides these color tests, the adulterated oil can also be detected by Paper chromatography and Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). These are slightly complicated techniques, but I will tell you the basics of these tests. In paper chromatography, the mixture (of mustard and argemone oils) is allowed to run on a paper which is much like a blotting paper. The speeds with which each oil travels on this paper is different, with the result that after some time the two oils separate. These oils can be made visible by adding suitable reagents. This is the basis of paper chromatography. TLC is also quite similar. Paper chromatography is a very sensitive technique and can detect down to 0.0001% adulteration with argemone oil." "Doctor, you earlier told me that Katkar oil is used to adulterate mustard oil. So does this mean it is cheaper than mustard oil?" "Yeah sure. But an additional factor often held responsible for adulteration is the maturation periods of the two plants, which is almost similar. Those defending intentional adulteration (mainly merchants and retailers of mustard oil) often point to the fact that the two plants often grow together and ripe at the same time, so during harvesting, there is an inadvertent mixing of the two seeds. But this argument appears fallacious for several reasons. Argemone grows mostly on fallow land and mustard has a canopy that does not let anything grow under it. Mustard ripens in March and Argemone in May. By May mustard has already been harvested, so adulteration can only be intentional." "Oh, I see. Does this mean Katkar oil has no use at all? It is only misused for adulteration." "No Tarun. Katkar oil has several legitimate uses. It is used medicinally in several countries in the treatment of dropsy (swelling of the body), jaundice and skin diseases. It is often given as an aperient (laxative). It is also used for lighting lamps, as it is very cheap. I might tell you that although the seeds of Argemone look very much like those of mustard seeds, there are some important differences between the two. If the seeds are placed between two fingers and rubbed, the Argemone seeds are found to have spiny edges. Mustard seeds do not have such spiny edges. Furthermore the seeds of mustard are heavier having a specific gravity of 1.3 as compared to 1.08 of Argemone. This helps in easy differentiation. The seeds of mustard will drown in saline water of appropriate specific gravity (say 1.2), while those of Argemone will keep on floating. Always remember the mnemonic I told you earlier - 'False will Float" "Oh, that is certainly interesting. Could you tell me the name of the disease one suffers from, when he consumes Katkar oil?" "Tarun, the name of the disease is epidemic dropsy. Dropsy means swelling of the body, and the name epidemic is self-explanatory. This disease usually occurs in epidemic form. The reason is that when adulterated oil comes in the market, several people consume it and fall ill at the same time. That is why the name epidemic dropsy is quite apt, although modern textbooks of medicine rarely use this term now. I told you that the chief symptom of Argemone oil poisoning is marked swelling over the legs. The cause of this swelling (technically known as edema or dropsy) is the increased porosity of the blood vessels, which is caused by Sanguinarine. Because of the increased porosity, water leaves the blood vessels and comes to lie in the tissues. This is mainly responsible for the swelling. Sometime so much water oozes out of the blood that it accumulates in the cavities around the heart and lungs. Look here at Ghanshyam’s body. I have dissected the body for you. Can you see the fluid accumulated around his lungs and heart?" "Oh, sure doctor. There is lot of fluid around his lungs and heart. And of course his legs are very much swollen. It is becoming clear to me now that he died of Argemone oil poisoning. I was just curious to know how old this disease is." "Tarun, the first case of poisoning in the country was reported in Bombay in 1877. In 1926, a doctor in Bengal discovered its link with consumption of cooking oil adulterated with Argemone oil. In 1935, the scourge killed 1,500 people in Bengal, and in 1966 an outbreak incapacitated hundreds of people in Bombay. In 1983, dropsy created havoc in Delhi, and again in 1998 during the months of August and September. During 1998 epidemic in Delhi, a total of 2552 cases were reported officially of which as many as 65 died. I may tell you, that although katkar oil is poisonous to animals, they do not show classical symptoms of epidemic dropsy. Experiments have shown that monkeys and cats develop sleepiness and diarrhea culminating in death. Guinea pigs and mice lost weight and died without showing any symptoms. Since epidemic dropsy can not be produced in animals, most studies on the Argemone oil have been done on human volunteers." "Doctor, have the outbreaks of Argemone poisoning occurred in other countries too, or is it just a peculiarity of our country?" "Tarun, Argemone poisoning has occurred in several other countries too, namely Fiji islands, South Africa and the 3 Ms - Madagascar, Myanmar and Mauritius. In our own country, it seems to occur more commonly in Northern India. South India has rarely suffered from this condition perhaps because mustard oil is not very popular there. Another interesting fact is that while almost all outbreaks of poisoning have occurred due to contamination with argemone oil, in South Africa an epidemic occurred due to adulteration of wheat flour with argemone seeds." "Oh, I see. So how do we arrive at the final diagnosis that Ghanshyam indeed has died due to Argemone oil poisoning?" "Tarun, I looked at his eyes, and dissected the retina. His intraocular tension is high. In addition, I also saw retinal hemorrhages, which is another thing that occurs in Argemone oil poisoning. Look here at the retina, which I have dissected out. Can you see retinal hemorrhages here?" "Oh sure doctor, they are very obvious. What else?" "Tarun, I told you that Sanguinarine causes dilation of blood vessels. Owing to dilation of peripheral blood vessels, a bluish mottling appears on the skin. Here you can see those bluish mottlings all over his skin. You can also see some small, fleshy, dark red, warty growths or nodules in the mucous membranes of cheek, gums, tongue and nose. This is quite characteristic of Argemone oil poisoning. Another characteristic thing is enlargement of liver. In this case too, it is enlarged. So we are almost sure that Ghanshyam died of Argemone oil poisoning. I have enquired the place from where Ghanshyam used to buy his mustard oil. It is from a local retailer Kauwa Ram. Come let us tell the police to seize all oil from his possession. It is quite obvious that he has adulterated the mustard oil with Argemone oil, and is selling it to gullible public for his own profit." "Oh yeah, this was a most interesting discussion doctor. Because of your sterling sleuthing, this dishonest trader will be caught and the public will be saved of this unnecessary agony. Tell me what are you going to tell me the next time?" "Tarun, next time, I would tell you about a very interesting poison- Sodium chlorate." "

Forensic Science Fiction

< Back To Main Page. LinkedIn X (Twitter) Facebook Copy link Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Volume 26 Number 1 ( January - June ) Contents Editorials Puneet Setia Apology Laws – Are they the right answer for Medical Practitioners? By Puneet Setia India DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14599219 Read > Papers P Shruti Knowledge and Attitude Towards End-of-Life care and Advance Directives amongst Medical Students and Postgraduates in a Tertiary care Hospital of South India By P Shruthi ¹ , J Damodharan ² 1. Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology 2. Former Dean and Professor, Department of General Medicine, Saveetha Medical College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India India DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12666258 Read >

Forensic Science Fiction

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SCIENCE IN CRIME DETECTION-15 SPEECH SPECTOGRAMS CATCH CRIMINALS This time I tell you about an exciting new technique, by which we can recognize a person from his speech. This technique is useful in cases like abduction, when kidnapper asks for ransom over the telephone. Can a person be positively recognized from his voice? You must have noticed that you can readily recognize a person from his voice. Even when you are sitting engrossed in your work and someone calls you from the back, you can readily recognize his voice. This is because, the voice‑generating system in each individual is different. In fig(1) you can see the various structures of the mouth which are involved in speech production such as palate, tongue, teeth, lips, cheeks, nasal aperture etc. These structures are different in different individuals and this is the basis of speech recognition. For a long time scientists were thinking of having a kind of "photographs" of human speech. It is always easier and simpler to compare two photographs, than to compare two sounds. Moreover, if a person has not heard the voice of a culprit for a long time, and he was asked to recognize that culprit again by his voice after a period of, say ten years, he might be at a loss to recognize him. If there was no way of converting the sound to a photograph, a police officer would face this problem very often. To overcome this handicap, in 1963, as scientist Lawrence G.Kersta, developed a unique machine in his laboratory in Somerville, New Jersey. This machine is known as the speech spectrograph and is shown Fig(2). The speech spectrograph converts a human speech into various graphs which can be easily compared. Fig 3 , shows the spectrograms (the voice graphs) of male and female voice. Once can easily spot the difference between the two. Fig 4 , shows the spectrograms or voice prints of 5 people saying a single word"you". there are 6 spectrograms which show clearly that one person has said" you" two times. Try to visualize the photograph carefully and try to find out which two voice prints look similar. These are the words uttered by the same person. With this background in mind, it is now easier to explain, how the machine helps in police investigation. Suppose a kidnapper has kidnapped a child, and then asks for ransom over the phone. The police scientist can record his voce and make speech spectrograms from that recorded voice, by the help of the spectrograph. The voice prints are then stored in the police prints are then stored in the police records for future reference. In future whenever a suspect is arrested, his voice prints can be made again and matched with that of the telephone caller. If the voice prints match perfectly, then the suspect is indeed the real kidnapper, otherwise not. The same technique can he used in several other situations. Sometimes people phone young females just for fun sake and speak obscene languages over the phone. These are basically harmless people, but their repeated malicious calls may be a nuisance. Till now the only way to tackle with such malicious callers was to keep the phone off the hook or to keep the receiver off the cradle. But now the affected party can call the police and ask them to make voice prints of such callers. These voice prints are permanent records in the files of the police and can be used anytime later when a suspect is arrested. Several countries are using this new technique now regularly to investigate crime.. Michigan State Police for example have been using this method with success since 1968. Some very famous crimes have been solved by this technique. This account should give you an idea of how deeply modern science has affected crime investigation. This is a new field of crime investigation. This is a new field of crime investigation and more research is needed before we can say the final word on it.

SCIENCE IN CRIME DETECTION-9 TESTING FOR HOMOSEXUALITY Two years back, I was involved in a most bizarre case. A young boy of eight, Kalu was once coming home from school. The time was around 2.00 p.m. Two sturdy looking persons came to him and lured him away with a chocolate. They took him to his house and tried to have intercourse with him tried to have intercourse with him through anus. When the boy protested, they offered him a ten‑rupee not for this "little job". He was told that he would not be hurt. Kalu was a poor boy and a sum of Rs.10/‑ was big amount for him. He could purchase many toys with that amount, which he had always wanted to. Although he did not like the idea of someone introducing his 'organ' in to his anus, yet the lure of the money let him allow that. During the act, however, he suffered from great pain and even bled slightly. His gait became painful and wobbling after that. When his parents asked him why he was walking in a peculiar way, he replied cautiously that he had fallen down and hurt himself. The parents paid no further attention to him. However things did not stop there. The next week, the two youths met Kalu and suggested the same bargain. The boy hesitated a little, but then decided that he could do with another ten rupee note! From then on, this became quite regular. Those two youths would regularly have anal intercourse with Kalu‑almost twice every week‑and would each time give him ten rupees. The affair went on for quite a number of weeks. Then trouble started when the boy developed some ulcers around his anus. These ulcers were discharging pus. His parents thought that the boy had caught some infection and so brought him to me. When I examined him I found that he was suffering from syphilis‑a venereal disease. Such a young boy could catch syphilis in only one way‑through anal intercourse. I explained the situation to his parents and at the same time informed the police also, because it had become a medico‑legal case. Kalu's parents lost their temper and started beating Kalu. Kalu then revealed that Jagga and Kaka, two youths of his area had been using him in this way. Before we go on with our story further, a few words about homosexuality or 'coitus through anus' would be in order. Intercourse through anus is known as sodomy or buggery. An adult male can perform anal intercourse on an adult male, adult female or on a young child(of either sex), as in Kalu's case. When homosexuality is done on an adult male, the practice is known as homosexual sodomy. When a male commits anal intercourse on a female, it is known as heterosexual sodomy. When a child is used, the practice is known as paederasty. This child is usually known as a catamite. The person who performs the act is known as the active agent and the one on whom the act is performed is known as the passive agent. Sometimes two adult males act as active and passive agents alternately. More commonly however, a passive agent always remains a passive agent. n our country, many people regularly earn their livelihood by acting as passive agents and charging a fat fee from their customers. These are known as male prostitutes. Several hijrahs whom are all familiar with, mostly act a passive agents,. Several boys like Kalu agree to become passive agents for the sake of money only. In our country, anal intercourse is a crime. According to section 377 of I.P.C., if it can be proved in anal intercourse, he can be sent to jail for 10 years. So Jagga and Kaka had every reason to deny their involvement in anal intercourse with Kalu. It was not merely a matter of shame, but a criminal act. As we shall see later, they did deny their involvement and it remained for me to prove conclusively that they had indeed used Kalu as a passive agent. An interesting thing is that if a passive agent consents for anal intercourse, even then the he can be incriminated under Section 377 of I.P.C. In our case, Kalu had consented for the act, but since he was only eight years old, his consent was not valid and he could not be incriminated. According to our law, any child under 16 years of age can not understand the nature of such acts and thus his consent for such act is not legal. Another interesting thing is that if a person performs anal intercourse on his own wife, even then he is a culprit under section 377 I.P.C. If his wife consents for such an act, then even she is a culprit and both can be sent to jail for 10 years. A wife can refuse her husband who demands anal intercourse from her. Interestingly she can not legally refuse normal vaginal intercourse to her husband even if she is not in "mood", but she can and must refuse anal intercourse, because if she does not refuse anal intercourse, she also becomes a culprit. If a wife refuses normal vaginal intercourse with her husband and her husband forcibly commits such an intercourse with her, she can not bring him before thee law, but the same is not true of anal intercourse. Not only can she send him to jail for 10 years (if she wants to), but is also entitled to divorce him In fact if a male commits anal intercourse on any man, child or woman, the wife is entitled to divorce him. So much regarding some of the legal points regarding homosexuality. When Jagga and Kaka were interrogated by the police regarding their criminals act, they denied any such involvement. So the burden of proving their involvement fell on me. Whenever a passive agent is brought to us, we examine mainly his anus which tells us several tell tale signs. The person is examined in a knee‑elbow position (Fig.1) . In this position the person rests on his knees and elbows. This position is chosen because it exposes the anus in a most prominent way. I first 'inserted a cotton swab (just like Johnson's buds; but with longer handle) into Kalu's anus. The idea was that if any seminal fluid was present in the anal canal, it would be absorbed by the cotton. It could then be tested for the presence of seminal fluid. the presence of seminal fluid in the anal canal confirms that buggery has been done on the passive agent. One of the most common preliminary tests to confirm semen is the Florence test. In this test, we prepare an extract of the suspected, seminal fluid from the anus and mix it with the Florence reagent. If the suspected fluid is semen, then dark brown needle‑shaped crystals are formed (see figure 3) Formation of these crystals confirms the presence of semen. We also try to look at the extract under the microscope. The presence of small tadpole‑like sperm cells confirms the presence of semen. We also see the underwear of the active and passive agents under a special light, the ultraviolet light. If seminal stains are present on the underwear, they begin to glow brightly. The examination of anus also tells several things. Figure 2 shows three main findings in and around the anus. For the purpose of clarify, anal opening is shown slightly enlarged. An important is tearing of the skin around the anus. this is known as fissure. these fissures appear because of the introduction of large‑sized male organ in relatively narrow anal canal. Second important thing is the laxity of the anal sphincter. Anal sphincter is a circular muscle which acts much like a highly elastic rubber band (Figure 3) . It actually checks the faecal matter from coming out involuntarily. But when male organ is repeatedly introduced in the anal canal, as during buggery, this sphincter becomes lax and the anus starts gaping. The third important sign is the smoothness of the covering of the anal canal. If we dilate the anus of a normal person and look inside, we find that the covering inside is much like an orange peel, i.e., rugged and rough. But repeated acts of penis insertion smoothers out the ruggedness of the covering. These three signs were quite suggestive that the boy was being used as a catamite. Interestingly, when I subjected the swab taken from Kaka's rectum to Florence test, it came positive for seminal fluid. His anus also showed all the three classical signs. The lawyers of Jagga and Kaka could not refute this hardcore medical evidence in the court. The court admitted my evidence and sentenced both of them to ten years of rigorous imprisonment.