Committee to probe first post-mortem in Khairlanji case

Nagpur, Nov 17 (UNI) The government has constituted a committee of five doctors to conduct an enquiry into the first post-mortem conducted on bodies of four members of a dalit family, killed by villagers in Khairlanji in Bhandara district of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in September.

Deputy Director of Health Services (Nagpur Circle) Dr V D Khanande has asked the committee to submit its report within seven days, official sources said.

The government has terminated a medical officer of Mohadi Rural Hospital in Bhandara district for lacunae in the first post-mortem, and another for remaining absent without permission when it was conducted. Another team of doctors later conducted the second post-mortem after allegations that the first one had not been done properly.

Meanwhile, Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) Siddheshwar Bharne, in charge of the concerned police station when the killings in Khairlanji took place, has been arrested for dereliction of duty.

PSI Bharne was earlier suspended on the same grounds. He has been booked under various sections of the IPC and the Atrocity Act for failing to take appropriate action when miscreants assaulted a relative of the family that was lynched.

Surekha Bhotmange (45), daughter Priyanka (18) and sons Roshan (23) and Suresh (21) were killed by a mob in village Khairlanji on the night of September 30 over a land dispute.

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