Death of Judge Loya: Forensic expert says medical documents rule out heart attack

One of India’s foremost forensic experts, Dr RK Sharma—the former head of the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, and the president of the Indian Association of Medico-Legal Experts for 22 years—has, after examining medical documents pertaining to the death of the judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, dismissed the official claim that Loya died of a heart attack.

According to Sharma, the documents show signs of possible trauma to the brain, and even possible poisoning, reported Caravan Magazine in its latest edition.

Sharma spoke to the magazine after studying Loya’s post-mortem report and related histopathology report, which accompanied samples of Loya’s viscera that were sent for chemical analysis, and the results of the chemical analysis. Some of these documents have been procured through Right to Information applications, and others have been submitted to the Supreme Court by the government of Maharashtra in support of a report by Maharashtra’s State Intelligence Department that concludes there is no cause for suspicion regarding Loya’s death. But such a conclusion is contradicted in Sharma’s expert opinion.

“There is no evidence of myocardial infarction in the histopathology report,” Sharma said. “The findings in this report have no suggestion of a heart-attack. They show changes, but not a heart attack.”

Sharma observed that the post-mortem report says that calcification is observed in the vessels, and where there is calcification, there is no heart attack. Once the vessels have calcified they will never block the flow of blood.

Loya is reported to have complained of feeling unwell at about 4 am and was declared dead at 6.15 am the same day. “So that means two hours,” Sharma said. “If one is alive for more than 30 minutes after the symptoms [of a heart attack] show, the condition of the heart will have clear changes. No clear changes can be seen here.”

The post-mortem report states that the probable cause of death was “coronary artery insufficiency.” Sharma said that “there are changes observed in heart in these documents, but none of them are conclusive enough to show ‘Coronary Artery Insufficiency.’ Every patient who goes for a bypass surgery will have these symptoms.”

“More importantly, dura is congested according to the post-mortem report,” Sharma added. “Dura mater is the outermost layer that surrounds our brain. It is damaged in cases of trauma, which indicates some kind of an assault on the brain. A physical assault.”

Among the state of Maharashtra’s submission to the Supreme Court is a bill in Loya’s name from Nagpur’s Meditrina hospital, where the judge was declared dead. While Meditrina officials maintain that Loya was brought in with heart problems, this document inexplicably lists “neurosurgery” as a billed item.

The post-mortem report does not record precisely how much congestion of dura was observed. Sharma said he found it strange that the reason why dura is congested is not written.

Sharma is quoted as saying that there is a possibility of poisoning, and that from the post-mortem report every single organ is congested. The organs recorded as “congested” in the report include the liver, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, oesophagus and lungs, among others.

The chemical analysis on Loya’s viscera samples, submitted 50 days after the judge’s death, did not identify any poison. The analysis is recorded as having started on 5 January 2015—36 days after Loya’s death, on the night intervening between 30 November and 1 December 2014—and finished 14 days later, on 19 January 2015. Sharms wondered why it took so long, when normally it takes just a day or two. In addition, the condition of Loya’s body and the probable cause of Loya’s death as recorded in the post-mortem report had no consensus.

Dr RK Sharma, Caravan highlights, is one who has written five books on forensic and medico-legal issues, and has lectured and trained judges and public prosecutors on multiple occasions. He has been a consultant for the Central Bureau of Investigation, been invited to international seminars by investigative agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States, and has organised numerous national and international seminars in forensic medicine and toxicology.

While reading the documents, Sharma said that based on the situation resented in the documents, there should be an investigation in this.