Following the post-midnight gunning down of the five suspected bank robbers in Velachery, the action shifted to the Government Royapettah Hospital around 3 a.m. when the bullet-ridden bodies were brought in there by police parties.
An Accident Report was recorded for the dead bodies as ‘unknown persons’ and a preliminary examination carried out by duty doctors. Police inspectors Christian Jayasil (Thoraipakkam) and Ravi (Teynampet), who allegedly suffered injuries during the gunfight between the police and the robbers, were admitted to the same hospital.
Both the officers refused to speak to the media, claiming they were not in a condition to talk.
However, when not under the gaze of the cameras, one of the officers could be seen chatting away on his mobile phone.
Around 4 a.m., the corpses of the five suspects were shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Following examination by doctors at the casualty ward, the bodies were wheeled to the mortuary.
Bullet wounds
Elaborating on the bullet wounds, a duty doctor who examined the bodies said that the suspects had multiple bullet wounds and a few had visible bruises, possibly suffered in an attempt to escape the gunfire. “Only one body had a bullet wound on the forehead, which had split open. The bullet must have been fired from a close range,” he added.
No bullets were removed from any of the bodies as they were transferred intact to the mortuary for examination by a magistrate as part of the judicial enquiry. They were all shot at least three times in the stomach, hand and chest, except for one who was shot in the head, said the doctor.
Kingpin’s body
The body of the kingpin, later identified as Vinod Kumar (32) from Patna, who was captured on CCTV and his image flashed in newspapers and TV channels, was seen with no fingers on the left hand and burnt fingers on the right.
“His fingers were damaged in what is suspected to be an explosion or an accident that had taken place a few years ago,” the duty doctor said.
Post-mortem
According to hospital sources, the post-mortem will be conducted only after the magisterial enquiry is completed. No one came forward to claim the bodies till Thursday night.
