Subscribe
The autopsies of two of the three people killed by Karnataka Forest Department officials in the Chikkallur reserved forest area on suspicion of being poachers suggest that they were shot from close range, possibly a distance of less than one foot and up to two feet. Preliminary wound ballistics findings in the autopsy report and the fact that the firearm used was a shotgun raise questions about the Forest Department’s claims that the men were shot in self-defence. These claims were repeated in the Legislative Assembly by Forest Minister Ramalinga Reddy.
Anthony Swamy, John Rose Peter and Sebastian David Kumar were shot dead in Chikkallur inside the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in Hanur taluk in the early hours of August 15.
A fourth man, Joseph Mahima Das, later released a video disputing the Forest Department’s account of the incident. He said that Forest Department officials reached the spot around 5.30 am on August 15 and opened fire. Frightened, he ran away into the forest and said that he had been living in fear since then.
According to a preliminary inquiry report submitted by the Deputy Conservator of Forests of the Cauvery Wildlife Division, the Forest Department staff received a tip-off about people with unlicensed country guns entering the Holemundatti patrol area near Shagya range for poaching. The report said the Forest Department officials opened fire in self-defence in the Karadikal forest area when the alleged poachers ignored the officers’ call asking them to surrender.
The investigation has now been handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
However, a forensic doctor who examined the post mortem reports at TNM’s request said that the wound ballistics and the fact that the weapons used were shotguns do not match the Forest Department’s claim that the shots were fired in self-defence.
The doctor said that preliminary wound ballistics findings recorded in the post mortem reports suggest that the two men were shot from a distance of less than one foot and up to two feet.
Four gunshot wounds
The post mortem reports of the two men suggest that the three men sustained at least four gunshot wounds. The post mortem reports of Anthony Swamy and Sebastian David Kumar, of which TNM has a copy, say that the gun shots that killed them were fired from a “close range”. A CT scan report of John Rose Peter, which TNM has a copy of, shows that he sustained one gunshot wound to the neck.
Thirty-six-year-old Sebastian was shot twice, once on the left side of his chest slightly below his left collar bone and once on the right thigh, a few inches above the knee.
The bullet that penetrated Sebastian’s chest fractured three ribs on the left side and injured his left lung, disrupted and lacerated the left atrium and left ventricle of his heart “completely”.
The direction of the wound was “front to back, above downwards and left to right” — meaning that he was shot from above.
But in contrast, the shotgun wound on Sebastian’s thigh was sustained from a shot from below, front to back and medial to lateral.
Remarking on the findings, the forensic doctor said, “Why are there two injuries from close range if it was self-defence?”
Anthony sustained a gunshot wound on the right side of his chest and multiple pellet injuries around the main wound and on his right arm and elbow.
The front of his red-coloured T-shirt was tattered and stained with blood, corresponding with the gunshot wound on the right side of his chest. The bullet left burns and scorch marks on his T-shirt at the spot where the cartridge tore a hole through his body. The wound measured 22 cm x 9 cm. Around 50 pellet injuries surrounded the main entry wound.
When the gunshot penetrated Anthony’s body from the right side of his chest, it tore through the skin and subcutaneous tissue, fractured four front ribs, and lodged between the abdominal wall and the left side of his abdomen.
Among the ballistic evidence that doctors recovered from Anthony’s body were pellets lodged in his liver, abdomen, spleen and left kidney.
The post mortem noted that the injuries on both men were ante mortem and fresh at the time of death. The autopsy reports of Sebastian and Anthony said that the shots were fired at close range and that the cause of death was due to haemorrhage and shock due to shotgun injuries.
Shot from less than a foot
The forensic doctor TNM spoke to said that shotguns leave what forensic doctors call “rat holes with satellite pellets” on the body. He explained that shotguns have cartridges containing metal pellets which disperse when fired. When they hit a living being, they usually leave no exit wound.
The doctor said that the distance from which a shotgun was fired could be estimated by the presence or absence of certain indicators or objects in the wounds, such as traces of flame, smoke and unburned particles. Each of these travels along with the bullet or cartridge for varying distances.
He pointed out that both gunshot wounds on Sebastian’s body showed burning and scorching of the skin around the wound, singeing of body hair and soot particles in the wound.
“Singeing of body hair can only happen if the shotgun was fired from less than 30 cms because the flame from the firing would burn it,” the doctor said. This was further corroborated by the burning of the T-shirts worn by the men as recorded in the post mortem report, he said.
Similarly, the wounds on Anthony’s body too had burning and scorching of the skin around the wound and soot particles were found in the wound itself. The absence of singeing of body hair but presence of burning of skin around the around suggested that he was shot from a distance of within 60 cms.
Another indicator that the two men were shot at from a close range was the recovery of red plastic wads from each of the shotgun wounds.
The forensic doctor explained that shotgun cartridges are basically divided into two chambers separated by a wad of plastic or other material. One chamber contains the powder which burns when the trigger is pulled and the other contains the pellets. He said that the red plastic wads cannot travel long distances. The presence of these wads in each of the three wounds further suggest that the distance of firing was within 60 cms. These wads have been sent for further ballistic examination.
Smoking gun(s)?
Forest Minister Ramalinga Reddy told the Legislative Assembly on August 17 that only a single weapon with the serial number R72035 issued to a forest guard named Shivaraj S was fired.
However, the forensic doctor said it was unlikely that a single shotgun was used in a self-defence scenario.
“If it was self-defence, the speed at which these things happen would be very quick,” the doctor said.
Given that at least four shots were fired, based on the number of gunshot wounds on the bodies of the three men, more than one weapon would have had to be fired regardless of whether the weapon was a single barrel shotgun or a double barrel shotgun.
“You would need more than one shotgun because once you fire, you would need to reload a cartridge. Shotguns are not like other guns where you can fire multiple shots in one go… All of this doesn’t suggest self-defence,” the doctor said, but added that the exact number and type of weapon would need to be known to be able to clearly piece together what happened that night.
