Death of Richard: Murder or Accident?
Post-mortem blames death on head injury
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Johnson T A
Bangalore, April 25 2012:
A provisional post-mortem report on the death of a 21-year-old first-year student of architecture from Manipur, studying at the Acharya Institute of Technology here, in his hostel room has revealed cerebral haemorrhage from a severe head injury as the cause of death.
Richard Loitam was found dead on his bed in his hostel at Nelamangala in Bangalore Rural district on April 17 afternoon with bloodstains around his nose and ears.
The night before he died, Loitam was involved in a minor altercation with a former roommate, a first-year student from Jharkhand, over the viewing of a cricket match on the common television set in the hostel.
Loitam, investigations have found, suffered a fall from a two-wheeler in a road accident on April 15 and was prescribed medication at the Saptagiri Hospital, though no scan was suggested for his head which was reportedly hit in the accident.
The provisional post-mortem report mentions simple injuries and lacerations on his face that may have been caused due to altercation at the hostel, but does not suggest these could have caused the death, said SP D Prakash.
"We have registered a case of unnatural death.
We have sent the viscera for forensic analysis.
We are hoping that the forensic analysis, along with the final post-mortem report, will give us an idea of the exact cause of death," he said.
According to the police, the altercation between Loitam and his former roommate was minor but involved a lot of jostling.
"There is said to have been a punch on the face but whether that could have caused his death is not clear.
The provisional postmortem report says there is cerebral haemorrhage.
This seems to be the result of a bad shock to the head.
After the accident a few days earlier, an X-ray should have been conducted," the SP said.