Facial reconstruction by the forensic department of King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital helped the Ghatkopar police confirm the identity of a 45-year-old woman, whose body parts were found in Vidyavihar and Kurla, in December and earlier in January.
On December 30, a woman’s torso was found from a footpath near Nausena Vihar in Vidyavihar. The next day, a pair of dismembered legs were spotted in a garbage bin in Kurla. On January 4, the police recovered a decapitated head from another site in Kurla. The police suspected the woman to be Kurla resident Badrunissa Mohammed Shafi Sheikh. However, as the woman’s head, which was found near the railway tracks in Kurla, was highly decomposed, the police asked KEM Hospital to reconstruct the face. Generally, it takes over a week to complete the facial reconstruction, but the forensic department completed this case within two days.
Dr Hemlata Pandey, the forensic oncologist from the hospital, said. “We had to first clean the decomposed head which was infested with maggots and flies. Then its imprint was taken in a plaster-of-Paris (PoP) mould to get an exact casting.” PoP replicas of facial muscles were then layered on the skull model to create an image of the face that almost looks likes the victim, said Pandey. “This was a tricky case as the skull had developed several fractures, possibly when it was thrown away. So, we had to be extra careful while making the mould,” Pandey said.
This helped the police confirm the victim’s identity, following which they arrested her 25-year-old son Sohail Shaikh for murder.
{{/usCountry}}This helped the police confirm the victim’s identity, following which they arrested her 25-year-old son Sohail Shaikh for murder.
{{/usCountry}}An officer said there were almost 90% similarities between the reconstructed face and the victim’s face. “We have also sent the samples of the head for a DNA analysis, but it takes days to get the report. So, we were dependent on the facial reconstruction report for confirmation,” said the officer.