The outcome of a criminal inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the near-fatal injuries sustained ‘mysteriously’ by schoolteacher R. Krishnakumar at Valakam in Kollam district on the night of September 27, 2011, will, in all probability, hinge on whether the agency found the wounds on the man to be accidental, self-inflicted or homicidal.
Official sources said the CBI investigators had their own doubts about the State police findings that the wounds were the result of a hit-and-run accident and, hence, there was no premeditation, or mens rea , behind the controversial incident.
Mr. Krishnakumar was a teacher at a school managed by a veteran ruling front politician. He had raised certain allegation against the school management, which led to enquiries by the Education Department’s vigilance wing.
The incident had snowballed into a controversy, after some of Mr. Krishnakumar’s relatives accused the politician of having a hand in the schoolteacher’s plight. The State police, which was yet to identify the vehicle suspected to have caused the injuries in the ‘accident,’ had based its finding primarily on a report filed by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC).
On the assumption that the teacher was injured in a hit-and-run road accident, the police had sought the expertise of NATPAC to reconstruct the event forensically. On the basis of the NATPAC report, the police had tried in vain to identify the vehicle. Officials said the CBI investigators were taking a hard look at the wound certificate issued by the hospital where Mr. Krishnakumar was treated initially. They were verifying whether the injuries sustained by the victim, including the wound to the rectum, happened when he was trying to ward off the assailants, if there was any.
The CBI’s final findings on the nature of the injuries, which the agency was expected to report in court, would also depend on the number of wounds and their location on the victim’s torso.
Consent sought
Staff Reporter writes from Kollam: The Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Ernakulam, on Tuesday, sought consent for narco-analysis and other tests from four teachers in the case. The four were Mr. Krishnakumar’s colleagues. The CBI had submitted a request before the court seeking permission to conduct narco-analysis, brain-mapping, polygraph and forensic tests.
