Here, initially owing to the circumstances and history the case was considered as homicidal cut throat injury by unknown persons (Alleged money lenders).

Findings towards homicidal cut throat injury were (i) Horizontal cut injury in front of neck (ii) Blood stained clothes (iii) Assault by unknown as per history.

Findings suggesting it as not a case of homicidal cut throat injury as observed by the authors were (i) Cut throat injuries were superficial (Non fatal) (ii) Nail scratch abrasions on face (iii) No much blood effusion by cuts on chest (Suggesting postmortem) (iv) Criss-cross pattern cut injuries on chest and correspondingly on clothes (Attempt to fabricate the incident).

Important observations and inferences: (i) Superficial cut injuries (Fabrication attempt) (ii) Less blood effusion (Post-mortem injuries) (iii) Undigested food in the stomach and History of consuming dinner at late night (Wrong information provided by wife) (iv) Smell of spirit in stomach (v) Nail scratch abrasions on face and bluish discoloration of nail beds (Signs of death by asphyxia).

All these observations and inferences like nail scratch abrasions on face and possibility of death by asphyxia, non-fatal cut injuries on neck and front of torso and false statement by wife of deceased as confirmed by presence of undigested food in the stomach were communicated to the investigating officer by the authors.

The forensic science laboratory officers were called to the scene of crime by the investigating officer and they detected wiped out blood stains inside the home. The investigating officer obtained call data records (CDR) of the wife and learnt that she had active call hours at late night and early morning on the day of homicide.

The investigating officer interrogated the wife of the deceased with all the above information and she confessed the planned mariticide by smothering and an attempt to evade by fabricating the dead body with injuries and narrating a false story.

Smothering is caused by closing the external respiratory orifices by hands or other means. Here the person is deprived of oxygen to inhale and unable to exhale the carbon dioxide leading to death by failure in respiration. At autopsy usually contusions and nail scratch abrasions are observed around nose and mouth, there may be lacerations at inner side of lips due to pressing against the hard teeth. Classical signs of asphyxia like congestion, cyanosis and petechial haemorrhages may be seen. These signs are severe if the death is slow while in rapid deaths by smothering these signs may not be evident as the person dies immediately by cardiac arrest. 4 When the person is intoxicated he or she may not pose much defence against the assailant and the intoxication adds to rapid death. When soft materials like pillow, blankets etc., are used to cover the external respiratory orifices the abrasions, contusions and lacerations may not be seen. In our case the victim was intoxicated with ethyl alcohol as evident by the chemical analysis report, hence the signs of asphyxia and injuries by smothering were not classical. Similar findings were observed in cases reported by Theodore T. Brown et al.5 Deliberate homicide by smothering is usually seen in infants, old and the weakened or intoxicated as they cannot struggle. It is very difficult to establish the homicide manner of death by smothering just by objective findings. 6

Cut injury to the neck is a life threatening injury as many vital structures are stationed and pass through here. The cause of death varies from haemorrhage, vagal inhibition, choking, air embolism etc. The injuries to the neck are studied by categorising them into three zones. In homicidal cut throat injuries, zone I is most commonly involved. In antemortem injuries while the heart is still pumping the effusion of blood to surrounding structures and loss of blood are more. In a study reported by Souvagini Acharya et al7 many cases of cut throat injuries with thyroid cartilage depth are survived with some morbidities. In our case the platysma, left sternocleido mastoid and left external jugular vein were cut exposing the thyroid cartilage. There was not much effusion of blood into the surrounding structures. Cut injuries on the torso were up to subcutaneous tissue depth and no effusion of blood around. Hence, the cut injuries on neck and torso were considered as postmortem injuries.

According to Ganong’s review of medical physiology8 the normal gastric emptying starts by 20 mins and completes by 90 mins to 180 mins. In a study by Andreas Franke et al 9 it was concluded that ethyl alcohol increases the gastric emptying time in concurrence with the type and concentration of beverages. In our study, when the author enquired, the wife of the deceased said that they ate food and slept around 11:00 PM and at 06:00 AM the next day she found him dead in front of the house. The author at autopsy observed that the rigor mortis was appreciated all over and the stomach had 430 ml of undigested rice meal with the smell of spirit. According to Nysten’s rule3 rigor mortis sets in by the first 12 hours following death and remains so for the next 12 hours and passes off by the next 12 hours. Hence, the author considered the time of death as around 11:00 PM in the night and not around 06:00 AM the next day.

The detection of blood stains, analysis of their pattern at crime scenes is considered as one of the important findings in crime scene analysis. Even if the crime scene appears clean and bloodless, efforts should be made to detect stains. Among all the tests Luminol test is considered as one of the best in detecting invisible blood stains 10, this is 20 times more sensitive than other tests. The Luminol gets oxidised in presence of haemoglobin and releases hydrogen peroxide (Figure 6), which luminesces as blue-white light in dark. Haemoglobin in blood can be detected even in 1:10 million dilution and under 8 layers of painting too. In our study forensic science officers detected wiped out blood stains at the veranda of the house and sink. The investigating officer concluded the attempt of wiping off blood and suspected the scene of injury to be inside the house and not outside.