Internal bleeding caused biker Veenu Paliwal’s death: Autopsy
A panel of doctors refuted fellow-biker Dipesh Tanwar’s claim after conducting an autopsy of the celebrated woman biker’s body .
A day after Veenu Paliwal, India’s top woman motorcyclist, was killed in a road mishap in Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha district, an autopsy on Tuesday identified excessive internal bleeding as the cause of her death.
The 44-year-old Jaipur resident was killed after her Harley Davidson motorcycle skidded off a road while negotiating a turn near Gyaraspur on Monday evening.
The autopsy was conducted by a panel of four doctors — comprising RL Singh, RK Verma, RK Sahu and Neha Jain — after fellow-biker Dipesh Tanwar alleged that a local primary health centre at Gyaraspur may have subjected Veenu to “wrong medical treatment”.
Watch | Veenu Paliwal’s interview with Hindustan Times
Speaking to mediapersons on Tuesday morning, fellow-biker Dipesh Tanwar had said that staffers at the primary health centre in Gyaraspur — where she was taken after the road mishap — may have made an error in judgment. “There were no external injuries, and it’s quite possible that the wrong treatment was administered to her,” he had said.
However, the medical experts — after conducting the autopsy over a period of one hour — dismissed Tanwar’s suspicions. “A compressive injury caused by a hard object, possibly the motorbike’s handle or a wall, ruptured her liver badly — triggering excessive internal bleeding and her eventual death. She was administered an anti-tetanus injection at the PHC, which was not wrong treatment at all. Any patient of trauma is given an antibiotic, anti-tetanus and anti-inflammatory treatment at the outset,” eye specialist Dr RK Sahu told HT.
Read: Veenu Paliwal, a biker who loved the road and her Harley
Veenu’s 72-year-old father, KC Paliwal, refused to comment on the allegations of wrong medical treatment levelled against staffers of the Gyaraspur health centre. “I am not going to make allegations without knowing about the reality. Why should I cause anybody any inconvenience when my daughter is no more?” he asked.
Vidisha SHO Rajesh Tiwari said that though the Gyaraspur primary health centre rushed Veenu to the better-equipped Vidisha district hospital, she was declared dead on arrival. She was reportedly riding her bike at over 110 kmph when the accident occurred on the Sagar-Vidisha-Bhopal highway around 6.30 pm on Monday.
Despite her injuries, Veenu called up Tanwar — who was just behind her — and informed him about the incident. “She was conscious for about half an hour after that,” said Tiwari.
After the autopsy was done, Veenu’s relatives took her body to Jaipur on Tuesday morning.
Describing Veenu as somebody who “lived her life for others”, KC Paliwal said: “She believed that we — who have everything we need in life — should give back to society. She was multi-faceted, and she aimed to achieve a lot in life. She was extra-caring towards her family, friends and especially the poor and differently abled.”
Read: Prominent woman biker Veenu Paliwal dies in road accident in MP
He recounted how Veenu was passionate about two-wheelers even as a child. “I had three bikes — a Rajdoot, Jawa and Bullet — and she was always trying to ride them. She started riding bikes at 12 years of age, and sometimes even in my absence,” he said.
Veenu’s demise also evoked sympathy from Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje. “Sad to know of the untimely demise of India’s ace motorcyclist Veenu Paliwal. Her passion will remain an inspiration. May her soul rest in peace,” she tweeted.
Veenu is survived by two children — Shiven, an engineering student, and Shivika, who has just completed her Class 12 examinations.