Bhiwani schoolteacher Manisha’s death probed as ‘suicide’; police action after outrage

Nearly five days after the body of 19-year-old schoolteacher Manisha was recovered from near a canal in Singhani village of Bhiwani district, the case has taken a serious turn with the probe focusing on the ‘suicide angle’. Bhiwani SP Sumit Kumar confirmed that a ‘suicide note’ was recovered from the bag of the victim schoolteacher Manisha along with some other documents on August 13. He stated that she purchased insecticide from a shop located close to the school. The SP also stated that there were no cut marks on her throat or any other body part, quoting the postmortem report from the Pt Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) at Rohtak. The SP also stated that the postmortem examination primarily denied sexual assault, adding that samples have been taken for further forensic examination.

The SP said that she had purchased insecticide from a shop owned by a man named Devender on August 11 when she went missing. Two days later, her body was recovered lying near a canal at the outskirts of Singhani village. Manisha was working as a schoolteacher in a private school in Singhani, about six kilometres from her village Dhani Laxman.

The postmortem examination of the body conducted at PGIMS, Rohtak, has revealed extensive decomposition and multiple missing organs, alongside a severe incised wound across the neck. The autopsy was carried out by Dr Abhiney Gupta and Dr Pankaj Chhikara. According to the postmortem report, the body was smudged with mud and weeds and was emitting a foul smell. “Scalp hairs, 35 to 40 cm in length, were found entangled with vegetation and mud. A metallic multi-coloured broach with a black rubber band was present in the scalp hairs, which were sealed and handed over to the investigating officer. The examination notes “the skull vault was found separated up to the high parietal region, while brain tissue was largely missing except for a few grey streaks and tags of membranes. The skull base was fractured at several places. Both eyeballs were absent, and the face had lost most of its soft tissues and anterior teeth were visible. The tongue, pharynx, thyroid, hyoid was found missing”. The report stated, “Upper severed end of trachea is found attached to its remnant present 2 cm above the carina along with adjoining soft tissues.”

The autopsy further records that both lungs and the heart were missing from the chest cavity. “In the abdominal cavity, the lower end of the oesophagus, stomach, part of the liver, portions of the intestines, both kidneys, the spleen, uterus, and bilateral ovaries were also missing,” it revealed, adding that no ligature mark was observed on the neck. “The pupils, cornea, and conjunctiva were decomposed,” it stated. The swabs and smears have been preserved for forensic analysis.

Notably, the Bhiwani police had registered a case of murder on recovery of the body of Manisha on August 13, after which public outrage led to a dharna in Dighawa town of the district to demand justice for the victim. The state government transferred the SP and also placed five police personnel under suspension for their alleged negligence in the investigation.