Five years after death, Mumbai teen's heart is still missing, CBI doesn't have answers

A 19-year-old Sanam Hasan was found dead under mysterious circumstances in 2012. Five years on, her parents are seeking answers and her missing heart.

For five years investigators from different agencies, Mumbai police to CBI have not been able to crack the case of unnatural death of a Mumbai teen because of a bizarre reason. The heart of Sanam Hasan, who the Mumbai police said died of alcoholic intoxication with ischemic heart disease, is missing.

"This is the second time that someone else's heart has been sent instead of hers for tests. First, a man's heart was sent to a laboratory in Hyderabad under her name and now, when the CBI has taken over the investigation, a laboratory in Hyderabad has confirmed that the heart that was sent for tests does not match with my daughter's DNA," said Nagina Hasan, Sanam's mother.

Soon after her death in 2012, the local police, as well as the doctors, had refused to videograph the autopsy and gave a report that she died of heart decease. After a long legal battle, the case was transferred to the CBI. In 2016, Sanam's body was exhumed and sent for tests. While her hair, nail clippings and bone marrow samples matched with the DNA of the parents, the heart DNA did not.

Botched up investigation to protect culprits?

In 2012, Sanam cut a birthday cake before heading out to party. By the next morning, she was not reachable on the phone. Her parents were then informed that she was found dead at the party venue and then shifted to a private hospital nearby. The Mumbai police conducted investigations into the matter and declared that Sanam had died of alcoholic intoxication with ischemic heart disease.

"My daughter was a football player. She took part in a match just days before her death. The previous day she had done cardio exercises at the gym. But the post mortem report said that she had suffered a heart attack earlier as well and that there was 75 percent blockage in the heart. That is impossible," Nagina added.

Further, the initial reports suggested that semen traces were present but the authorities have not been able to match the samples with anyone who was at the party that fateful night. "My daughter was murdered and I know who the murderers are. They have been botching up the investigation to protect the killers. It is because we are neither rich nor celebrities that our efforts to get justice for my daughter are being trampled upon," a grieving mother added.

"The investigation by Mumbai police as well as the CID was so horrible that they did not even take the clothes that my daughter wore on the day of her death as evidence. It was with me for years," Nagina added.

In 2016, the CBI took over the investigations into the case but Sanam's parents believe that her heart was deliberately replaced the very day of the first autopsy to protect those who killed her. While all other samples from Sanam's remains have matched her parent's DNA, her heart has no match. Without the heart, investigations have now hit a roadblock. Sanam's parents demand answers from those responsible. Their only question, "Where is Sanam's heart?"

OneIndia News