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Rahul Raj was not shot point-blank: Report

Rahul Raj, the youth from Bihar who was killed in a shootout aboard a local bus in Mumbai, was not shot at close range but from a distance of at least four metres, a forensic report has said.

Updated on: Nov 23, 2008, 24:11:06 IST
PTI | By , Mumbai
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Rahul Raj, the youth from Bihar who was killed in a shootout aboard a local bus in Mumbai, was not shot at close range but from a distance of at least four metres, a forensic report has said.

HT Image
HT Image

“The report was submitted to the city police on Friday. Its findings state that the bullets were fired at Raj from beyond four metres,” sources quoting the report said on Saturday.

The bullets were not fired at point blank range and the firing could be classified as a long-distance one, the sources said.

Earlier, a doctor, who was involved in Raj’s autopsy, had said one of the bullets could have been fired at a close range.

A resident of Patna, Raj was gunned down by the police after he “hijacked” a bus with 12 passengers on board in suburban Kurla on October 27.

The killing sparked a furore, with several parties demanding a judicial probe.

The doctor had said some blackening found around a bullet wound could indicate that bullets were fired from a close range. He subsequently retracted the statement.

“Samples of skin from around the bullet wounds were sent to the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory to assess the distance from which the bullets were fired,” the sources said.

Maharashtra chief secretary and Crime Branch of the city police are conducting independent inquiries into the incident, which led to Bihar politicians condemning police action.

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