Nirupama death case: Police submit probe progress report

“Koderma police have submitted their investigation progress report in the Nirupama Pathak death case. I am satisfied with the investigation. We will soon complete the probe,” Director General of Police Neyaz Ahmad told reporters.

The police chief, however, did not divulge details of the report. According to police sources, the report includes the investigation angles, steps taken to carry forward the probe and ambiguities found in the post-mortem report.

Nirupama, 23, was found dead in her home in Koderma district April 29. Her mother Sudha Pathak has been arrested in this connection while the police have also filed a case of rape and abetment to suicide against her boyfriend Priyabhanshu Ranjan.

Both Nirupama and Ranjan were journalists based in New Delhi and her parents did not approve of their relationship.Nirupama's family insists she committed suicide. But her post-mortem examination showed she was smothered to death and that she was 10-12 weeks pregnant.

P. Mohan, the civil surgeon in Koderma who is facing the heat over ambiguities in the autopsy report, said that the report would be sent to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for an expert opinion.|

According to police, the doctors did not mention the time of death in the post-mortem report. Also, they did not preserve Nirupama's viscera and foetus and did not mention about the injury marks on her body.Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi have also pointed out the ambiguities in the autopsy report and sought further details from the doctors who conducted it.