Versova siblings' death likely to remain a mystery

The police is baffled by the mysterious death of the Versova siblings Rameez Chougle 25 and his elder sister Rehab 27 lsquoWhat killed Versova siblings within 24 hrsrsquo July 7 According to investigating police officers ldquoThe siblings had a similar history mdash dehydration and vomiting before death mdash and we wanted to find out whether there was any similarity in the autopsy findings but this is possible only if Rameezrsquos body is exhumed and a postmortem is conducted But the parents are not cooperating they are against thisrdquo Panchadhara building in Yari Road Andheri West where siblings Rehab and Rameez lived Pic Satyajit Desai Sayauddin and Neha Chougle parents of the deceased believe that there was no foul play involved They have also ruled out food poisoning as Neha had cooked dinner that night Their family doctor certified that Rameez died due to a cardiac arrest Rehab on the other hand is said to have died of pneumonia andu00a0cerebral oedema Additional Commissioner of Police West Region Vishwas Nangre Patil visited the parents on Saturday He was informed that no pest control was conducted at their residence In his statement to the police Sayauddin stated that he rushed to Mumbai after he received a call from his wife on July 3 He visited Rehab as soon as he arrived She even asked him to smile for her Rehab was shifted from Criticare to the ICCU at Kokilaben hospital on doctorrsquos recommendations where she passed away on the evening of July 5 The autopsy was conducted at Cooper postmortem centre on July 6 morning The police have blamed the forensic surgeon at Cooper postmortem centre for not preserving Rehabrsquos viscera They state that the autopsy surgeon should have preserved the samples as the girl died within 24 hours of admission to the hospital ldquoOn Saturday a team of experts from the toxicology department of KFSL went to the Chouglesrsquo flat and they collected a few samples and even photographed the placerdquo the police added The histopathology test which is done at JJ hospital would have ruled out any ailment and the chemical analyser findings at Kalina Forensic State Lab KFSL could have easily ruled out any poisoning This would have provided more clarity on this case and prevented the confusion explained a senior police officeru00a0 A forensic surgeon at the Cooper postmortem centre clarified that the Versova police in their Accidental Death Register ADR form had clearly stated that they did not suspect any poisoning or foul play and did not insist on the preservation of viscera Rukmini Krishnamurthy former Director FSL and technical advisor to the state government said ldquoDead bodies buried and exhumed a few days later can still show traces of poisoning or other clues if the visceral parts of the body remain intactrdquo Another forensic expert explained that though bodies show signs of decomposition within 24 hours of burial during the monsoon but the actual decomposition begins only after 72 hours However factors such as the place of burial soil conditions and the depth of the spot where the body was laid to rest also play a significant role in decomposition of the bodyu00a0