A bullet was found lodged in the back of a 19-year-old woman and was removed by doctors at the state-run NIMS Hospital in Hyderabad even as investigations are on to find out how the bullet got there, police said on Monday.
Doctors found the bullet lodged on back of the 19-year-old woman identified as Asma Begum on Saturday. Asma had reportedly been suffering from back pain for almost two years and was brought to the hospital after she complained of severe back pain. The doctored performed surgery on her, removing the bullet the same day.
The doctors alerted the Panjagutta police station the following Sunday.
"Doctors upon operating on the woman found a bullet lodged near her spinal cord and the injury appears to be more than one-year-old," a police official said.
Though over the past one year the teenager has been in pain, she has not told anyone about the bullet injury, he said.
Speaking to TNIE, the duty doctors at the hospital said Asma had visited the hospital a month ago and had taken an X-Ray which had indicated a foreign body in her back. It was only after the surgery that the doctors realised that the foreign body was, in fact, a bullet. An injury was also found on her upper back torso which the doctors suspect to be the entry wound of the bullet.
"We are verifying whether the bullet is of a country- made firearm and also enquiring with her family on the matter," the official said.
The police said Asma worked as a domestic help at Jahanuma of Falaknuma. However, neither Asma nor her family members could explain how a bullet got lodged in her back.
After removing the bullet, the doctors discharged Asma, and a team of police had visited her residence and taken statements.
Speaking to ToI the Panjagutta police said that the bullet will be sent for forensic lab analysis. The police have booked a case against unknown persons under section 307 of the IPC for attempt to murder and the Arms Act.
With PTI inputs