Abhishek Mishra’s father S.C. Mishra outside the court. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Jan. 9: The mysterious death of BIT-Mesra student Abhishek Mishra took a different turn after amicus curie Rajiv Ranjan produced pictures and facts at Jharkhand High Court today, previously overlooked by police.

Ranjan produced a picture of a person present at the picnic spot watching Abhishek and his three friends. However, none of the friends, in their statements before the police, had admitted to the presence of a third person at Dasham.

The person shown in the picture developed from Abhishek’s laptop was dressed in dark clothes and was wearing black glasses. The person, who did not seem to be a local, was also wearing a wristwatch.

Strangely, none of the three friends — Ragini Yadav, Vishal Pandey and Bharat Anand — mentioned the person, who was sitting close to the group and was watching them cook their meal, Ranjan informed the court.

Highlighting another fact, the counsel said the post-mortem was conducted hurriedly in 15 minutes whereas, normally, it takes about an hour.

Abhishek had consumed some food and there was 450 grams of “pasty” matter in his stomach. According to experts, such pasty matter is actually the food digested after about three hours of consumption.

The matter has been taken up by the high court after Abhishek’s father had written a letter to Supreme Court Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and the Chief Justice of Jharkhand M. Karpagavinayagam.

The victim’s father has suspected foul play in the death of his son and has demanded a CBI probe in the matter.

Abhishek and his friends had reportedly consumed food at 3 in the afternoon on the fateful day of December 8. If this fact is held to be correct, then as per the digested food found in Abhishek’s stomach, the time of death would have been close to 6 pm.

Moreover, the time of death, as stated in the post-mortem, is anywhere between 12 hours to 36 hours, which is a long time frame, Ranjan said.

The post-mortem report also confirmed injuries on Abhishek’s body, with the presence of blood in the lungs. Abhishek is said to have died of asphyxia and the symptoms are not similar to persons who die by drowning. When Abhishek’s body was fished out, the water had turned red and blood trickled from his nostrils, Ranjan added.

Injuries on Abhishek’s body were also mentioned in the inquest report prepared by the police after his body was fished out on December 9 at Dasham falls.

The counsel pointed out to the court that the inquest report was signed by two relatives of the victims, while the inquest report handed to Ranjan bore the signatures of two local people.

Ranjan also drew attention of the bench towards the statement of Hemendra Singh, a villager and a diver, who had fished out the victim’s body. Singh has said the injuries found on Abhishek’s body are not common to victims, who die by drowning. Singh has fished out as many as five bodies from the same spot and has never found injuries on them.

Doubts related to the behaviour of Abhishek’s three friends were also raised before the court. The three friends seems to have disappeared and have not tried to contact the bereaved family of their deceased friend even once.

The statements of the trio are also contradictory and thorough investigation in the case is needed, Ranjan said.

Meanwhile, the high court has directed the advocate general S.B. Gadodia, to seek out the case diary and other particulars of the case. The bench directed the state to file a comprehensive report on January 18, the next date for hearing the case.