[Reader-list] The Jamia Enounter: Looking for A Little Less Melodrama and A Lot more Forensics

Mon Sep 22 13:00:02 IST 2008

For us to believe what the police says lies in any computer, we will  
need to see the results of a tamper proof forensic examination of the  
computers contents done by independent experts. The same needs to be  
done with any other document, be it a 'reservation slip' or anything  
else. Until such an examination is done, and is cross examined by a  
competent legal defence,  the police statements about what lies  
inside anyone's computers is as good, in terms of evidence, as any  
'confession' extracted under duress.

On 22-Sep-08, at 12:45 PM, Pawan Durani wrote:

> http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080066212
>
>
> The investigations are still underway in the Delhi blasts case.  
> And, a lot more evidence will emerge after the forensic procedures  
> are complete. However, NDTV has obtained exclusive details of some  
> of the evidence against Atif, believed to be the mastermind of the  
> Delhi blasts. The evidence has come primarily from Atif's laptop,  
> mobile phone and travel records.
>
>  The Indian Mujahideen logo used in emails was stored on Atif's laptop
>  The laptop had pictures of the members of Atif's module
>  Ahmedabad blast clip was saved on his computer
>  It shows the two stolen cars used in the blasts
>  Mobile phone records show Atif was in touch with Tauqir, a SIMI  
> operative who played a key role in Ahmedabad and Bangalore blasts
>  Records show Atif was present at the various blast sites in Delhi
>  Atif had carried the same mobile to Ahemedabad
>
> Atif and his associates had booked their Ahmedabad tickets from  
> Delhi's Nizamuddin station. The police have the reservation slip  
> written out by one of the suspects. Records show the group had left  
> Ahmedabad at 4:45 pm on July 26, just before the blasts.
> On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 11:32 AM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta  
> <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
> A Little Less Melodrama and a Lot More Forensics.
> On Looking at a Photograph taken on the Margins of an 'Encounter'.
>
> (Apologies for Cross Posting on Kafila.org)
>
> Yesterday's Hindustan TImes published an interesting photograph of
> the late Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma of the Special Cell of the
> Delhi Police, who was killed, allegedly during the course of the
> recent 'encounter' at Jamia Nagar on the morning of Friday, the 19th
> of September.
>
> [ See 'Braveheart Falls', Page 3, Sunday Hindustan Times, 21
> September, 2008 ]
>
> < http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/
> ArticleImageEx.aspxarticle=21_09_2008_003_002_002&type=2&mode=1 >
>
> The page is headlined 'The Hunt for Terror' and while the other
> photographs on the page (of the deceased policeman's grieving
> relatives) are credited, this particular one is not.
>
> A number of disturbing questions about this 'encounter' are gradually
> beginning to make themselves known. I do not wish to repeat or
> reiterate them in this posting  (though I feel that they need to be
> carefully thought about). I just want to share my doubts about
> particular thing that I can't but help noticing while looking at the
> photograph.
>
> The photograph shows an injured Mohan Chand Sharma walking, helped by
> two men, presumably towards a vehicle that would be taking him to
> hospital.
>
> The man on his left is bulky, wears a black T Shirt with a red figure
> of 8 on it. One of Sharma's arms is slung around his shoulder. The
> man on his right is tall, balding, wears a blue patterned necktie and
> a white shirt  (he is also seen on the TV footage from Holy Family
> Hospital, where Sharma was taken). His shirt appears stained with
> fresh blood on his left arm and in the chest area. He wears a bag
> slung across his body.
>
> Sharma seems to have lost one shoe, appears to be in some pain, and
> clearly needs support as he walks. He is wearing an off white bush
> shirt, over a white vest and has what looks like some strong blood
> stains on his right arm (just below where the man on his right is
> holding him) and some faint stains, (which could be small quantities
> of blood, or could be stains from having brushed against a surface on
> which there is blood) on his right abdomen area.
>
> Since he is not on a stretcher of any kind, he appears to be in a
> position where it is plausible that he walked down the four floors
> from the site of the encounter at L-18 and is seen continuing to
> walk. He is in pain, but his injuries, at least in this photograph,
> do not appear to be life-threatening, at least not as yet.
>
> Crucially, there do not seem to be any visible signs of excessive
> blood loss. In serious bullet injuries, especially when they have
> occurred at close range, there is every chance of immediate and large
> scale blood loss. If he came down the stairs as he must have, we
> would have seen a lot of blood on the stairs, had there been a lot of
> bleeding. Having watched the video footage of the staircase
> repeatedly and carefully on the day of the 'encounter' I clearly
> recall that while the staircase was indeed 'spotted' with small
> patches, skid marks and spots of what looked like blood, the amount
> of blood did not suggest that a person who was bleeding heavily had
> walked down, (or even had been carried down) four flights of stairs.
>
> Reports of the autopsy conducted on Mohan Chand Sharma's body
> indicate that he sustained two injuries -  in his right arm and in
> his adbomen.
>
> [ See - Autopsy Suggests Sharma died of 'excessive bleeding'
> by Teena Thacker
> Indian Express, Posted Online, September 21, 2008 at 0017 hours ]
>
> < http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/autopsy-suggests-sharma-
> died-of-excessive-bleeding/363891/ >
>
> But no bullets were found, either in X Ray or during the autopsy.
> Suggesting that the bullets would have exited the body. This occurs
> when a high velocity firearm is used at close range, such that the
> force of the impact tears right through the body, causing the bullet
> to be ejected out of the body through an 'exit wound'. If there are
> exit wounds, they tend to be larger than entrance wounds, and they
> are accompanied by profuse bleeding.
>
> [ For a discussion of how bullet injuries impact on soft tissue in
> human bodies see -
> "How a high speed bullet damages an organ'" - from 'Gun Shot
> Wounds" (CRC Press, 1985) by Dr. Vincent J.M. DiMaio, Chief Medical
> Examiner and Director of the Regional Crime Laboratory, County of
> Vexar, San Antonio, Texas ]
>
> < http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/scientific_topics/wound_ballistics/
> How_a_high-speed.html >
>
> Sharma died of excessive bleeding. The excessive bleeding seems not
> to have begun at least till the time that this photograph was taken.
> The photograph in the Hindustan Times is consistent with the
> possibility of an injured arm, and the blood stains on his escorts
> shirt also seem to be in consonance with what would happen if you
> were helping a person who has been injured on his arm (or if the
> blood has sprayed on to your shirt at close range from another
> injured person).
>
> The ground which the three figures are walking on is clearly visible
> in the photograph, again, here too, we do not see the kind of marks
> that should be visible if a severely injured and bleeding person were
> to be walking.
>
> If this is so, then some rather disturbing questions seem to begin to
> raise their heads.
>
> Was Sharma shot (at least one more time) after this photograph was
> taken, and before he reached hospital? If so, who shot him?
>
> The only people who can be said to be with him as he travelled from
> the site of the encounter to the hospital were his other security
> personnel. There were no armed 'terrorists' with him, around him, or
> facing him, at this time.
>
> While Mohan Chand Sharma's career may have been illuminated by
> several decorations, there is no doubt that not unlike his deceased
> mentor and colleauge, Rajbir Singh, he had, of late come under a bit
> of a cloud. The decision to transfer him out of the Special Cell of
> the Delhi Police to the Police Training College at Jharoda Kalan
> (which has been interpreted as a punishment posting by some) is well
> known. He was asked to stay on, or perhaps himself asked to stay on,
> for this particular operation. It could have been a last attempt at
> another touch of glory in a career that was beginning to lose its  
> shine.
>
> We may do well to remember that Mohan Chand Sharma's erstwhile mentor
> and colleague,the late Rajbir Singh, too died in somewhat mysterious
> circumstances,  apparently to do with his somewhat unsavoury sideline
> as an extortionist and part of a real estate mafia racket (after
> having a distinguished list of 'encounters' and 'investigations',
> including the 13 December case, to his name).
>
> WIth Rajbir Singh's and now Mohan Chand Sharma's deaths, two more
> people who possibly knew a lot about say, the 13 December case are no
> longer in the reckoning, and with a steady chorus mounting for the
> execution of Afzal Guru, the day may not be far when no footsoldier
> will be left alive to bear witness to what exactly happened on and
> around the 13th of December, 2001 and several other less than
> transparent episodes in the recent history of what passes as 'anti-
> terrorist operations'.
>
> While today, Mohan Chand Sharma may be commemorated as a 'hero', as
> 'braveheart', as a 'martyr' a dispassionate look at his rise may
> actually reveal different shades. The possibility, that for many
> people within the deep structures of the security establishment, his
> 'neutralization' may not be an altogether inconvenient thing, cannot
> be ruled out.
>
> Incidentally, Mohan Chand Sharma's funeral was attended amongst
> others by Sachin Vaze and Pradeep Sharma, both top encounter killings
> of the Mumbai police, M.C. Sharma's friends, and both currently
> undergoing suspension, Vaze because of a case of custodiald death
> involving him, and Pradeep Sharma, because of suspected links to the
> Mumbai underworld.
>
> [ See Tarnished Cops Seek Meaning in Sharma's Death by Vikas
> Shrivastav and Vivek Sinha, Mumbai Mirror, Posted on September 21,
> 2008 ]
>
> < http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?
> page=article&sectid=15&contentid=20080921200809210351171019ca733b6 >
>
> Mohan Chand Sharma may have died a violent death, and every violent
> death (including possibly many of those that he may himself have
> authored in his career) is tragic and must be mourned. However, much
> of what he did, or was made to do, or became habituated to doing, and
> all that he represented, still needs to be accounted for. His last
> few hours need accounting for. The 'Jamia Encounter' and its link to
> the Delhi, Gujarat, Jaipur, Bangalore and Varanasi bomb blasts
> doesn't quite look like the open and shut case it is being made out
> to be on prime time television. By Sunday evening, a channel called
> India TV, (famous for predicting apocalypse on a daily basis) ran a
> dramatized 'reconstruction' with the theme of a 13 headed monster
> terrorist cell, within two days of Friday's events. Times Now,
> another channel, kept saying that they had 'Exclusive' Photographs of
> the so called 'Terrorists' at the sites in which they had planted the
> bombs. What they showed us were black and white close ups of smiling
> young men. The photographs did not in any way indicate 'where' these
> men happened to be located.
>
> Perhaps we need a little less melodrama, and a lot more forensics.
> That could help us understand what exactly happened at Jamia Nagar
> last Friday, and what is actually going on in the name of the 'war on
> terror' in this country today.
>
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> In a
>
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> Raqs Media Collective
> shuddha at sarai.net
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>
>
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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net