PANAJI
A three-member medical board headed by Goa Medical College and Hospital’s professor and head of the Pathology Department, Dr Roque Wiseman Pinto, has been set up to relook at the autopsy of Nachinola teenager Siddhi Naik.
Besides Dr Wiseman Pinto, the panel also includes Dr Andre V Ferndandes who heads the Forensic Department and Dr Guruprasad Pednekar of the GMC’s Obstetrics and Gynecology department.
The panel has been formed at the request of Calangute police who are investigating the mysterious death of the Nachinola teenager whose semi-clad body was discovered on the Calangute beach last month.
Naik had been reported missing the previous day by her father at the Mapusa police station.
After preliminary investigations and on receiving the autopsy examination report, the police had ruled out sexual assault and murder. Three doctors at the Goa Medical College had conducted the autopsy examination and police claimed that ‘drowning’ was stated to be the cause of death.
This led to an uproar in the State from civil society and Opposition politicians who have accused the administration of scuttling the probe to bury the controversy and bad press.
Earlier this week, the girl’s father formally wrote to the Calangute police seeking detailed investigation with the murder angle prompting the police to ask the GMC to set up the medical board and re-examine the autopsy.
