India. A young man aged about 26-year got married a couple of years back, he used to maintain his livelihood from the poor income being a rickshaw driver and used to pass hard days. His strained family relation also added misery to his life. Finding no other ways and unable to adjust himself, he committed suicide by hanging from the branch of a tree. This fact is also supported by the intelligence feedback collected from the victim’s family by the investigating agency.
Fig.1 Hanging position of deceased.
Fig.2 Protruded tongue with dribbling saliva.
The ligature material was a bunch of jute string used by the deceased in a U-shaped manner around the upper part of the front and sides of the neck and below the chin. The ligature was passing through the side of both ears. Thus, there was no knot in the noose in such hanging and ligature material was tied with the branch of a tree.
Fig.3 Hanging material (loop) passing through neck and left ear.
Fig.4 Hanging material (loop) passing through neck and right ear.
The deceased was 1.62 m (5’3″) in height, 56 kg (123 lbs) in weight, and average built. The body was removed from the hanging position for the inquest and subsequently, an incomplete thick U-shaped ligature compression mark was found in the front side of the neck. On both sides, the mark was prominent below the ears and showing evidence of frictional abrasion on the skin. The facial features were congested, soiled with dry mud, eyes were closed, and mouth was partially opened. The tongue was congested and protruded from between the teeth and lips.
Fig.5 Ligature mark above laryngeal cartilages.
Fig.6 The stretched loop of the hanging material with fixed knot.
On dissection, the skin and subcutaneous tissues were found white and glistening having no contusions in the layers of muscles of the neck. The hyoid bone, thyroid cartilage, and cricoid cartilage were found to be intact. The intima of carotid arteries was also found intact. Few ecchymoses were present along the margins of the ligature mark. Toxicological analysis of the blood and urine including viscera of the deceased could not establish the presence of alcohol and common poison. Available circumstantial evidence on the crime scene supports that this was a suicide.
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