Bismarque case: Diatom report rules out murder

THE GOAN NETWORK | DECEMBER 27, 2015, 12:00 AM IST

PANAJI: Police officials ruled out murder theory in the mysterious death of former priest-turned-activist Bismarque Dias after the crime branch of Goa Police on Saturday received the diatom test report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad.

The CFSL compared three samples sent to it by the crime branch, one each of the sternum, lungs and sample water where the body was found. All diatoms in all three exhibits were found to be identical.

Police officials from the crime branch stated that this effectively rules out all possible theories of Fr Bismarque being murdered in one water-body and then his body being dumped in another water-body, where it was later found.

Moreover, the report appears to have added credence to the theory of death due to asphyxia while offering no scientific evidence which strengthens suspicion of murder.

Diatom test is considered as the most important tool in diagnosis and confirmation of death due to drowning. It is done to ascertain whether diatoms found within the viscera match those found in the water samples from where the dead body was recovered. Diatoms are unicellular plant organisms which are most frequently detected in naturally occurring bodies of water.

Tissues from lungs, brain, kidney, liver and bone marrow are commonly employed in proving or disproving theories of drowning. Of these, bone marrow is reported to be the best as it is least affected by contamination during post-mortem submersion of the body in water.

The final verdict on the cause of death, however, will come from forensic department of Goa Medical College, Bambolim only after the reports of these tests are shared with the GMC authorities.

It may be recalled that the first post mortem report had pinned the cause of death as asphyxia due to drowning and the second autopsy had ruled out ante-mortem physical injury. Both the autopsies were conducted by the forensic department of GMC.

Following this, investigation team had sent the viscera samples to CFSL around mid-November, with a request to hasten the procedure.

The first report, after the physio-chemical test on the viscera of Fr Bismarque Dias, had arrived on December 11. It had ruled out presence of suspicious substances in the body further strengthening the present line of police investigation.

The viscera report had ruled out the presence of common drugs and other suspicious substances. In addition to this, no blunt force trauma was detected on the body, in congruence with the earlier two autopsies.

Report of DNA test on a bloodstained vest recovered from the sluice gate where Fr Bismarque’s body was found is now being awaited.

Apart from these forensic reports, a lie detector test is also set to be conducted on Daryl Vaz (18), one of the boys who accompanied Fr Bismarque on the night of November 5 when he went missing.

While JMFC, Panaji gave its nod to the application to conduct the test on Vaz after the boy and his family consented to it, the Juvenile Court turned down the application of the crime branch to conduct the lie-detector test on the other boy, a minor.

Sources disclosed that lie-detector test could be conducted in January 2016 at the polygraph testing centre at Gandhinagar, Gujarat or at either of two similar such centers, one of which is located at Hyderabad.

The final forensic report from GMC and report of the lie-detector test are likely to offer a much-awaited decisive thrust to the ongoing investigation.

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