Inexperienced doctor took Arushi vaginal swab,didnt record it in post mortem

And comes amid fresh revelations of alleged lapses in the probe,including the possibility that the vaginal swab sent to the forensic lab was not Arushis.

Speaking to The Indian Express,Singhal,who is now retired,said: Dore joined us 10 days before he performed the post-mortem (on May 16,2008). He was transferred from the Health Department and did not have that much of experience fulfilling technicalities in post-mortem. He did hand over the two slides of the vaginal swab taken from Arushis body to the police the same day.

Records at the Noida District Hospital,accessed by The Indian Express,show that a vaginal swab was procured for pathological tests.

But the post mortem report of Arushi does not mention that vaginal swabs were taken.

Said Dore: It is the prerogative of a doctor to decide what sample to take or not. I took the samples for the benefit of the case. I had the liberty of not taking it but I did take it and handed it over to the police. Something has definitely gone wrong somewhere but I have done no wrong. I admit that there could be some mistakes in writing but in practical,everything was done as per the procedure, Dore told The Indian Express.

But many are questioning the veracity of Dores claim.

One of them is Sudhir Gupta,associate professor,forensic medicine and toxicology at AIIMS,who dealt with the case.

Arushis post mortem report has no endorsement of the collection of vaginal swab or for that matter blood samples. In a murder case where the death is due to injuries and bleeding,it is mandatory for the doctor conducting the post mortem to take these samples.

Incidentally,Dore conducted four post mortems,including that of Arushi on May 16:

• Soni Singh,22: Alleged suicide,no vaginal swab taken.

• Kapil,15: Death in an accident; no slides taken.

• Nitesh Kumar,22: Alleged suicide.

Arushis,therefore,was the only case where records show a swab was taken.