Mystery shrouds death of girl whose mutilated body was found in Aarey

Darshini Muttu Veli

It's been over 10 days since the mutilated body of three-year-old, Darshini Muttu Veli, was found in Aarey, which the forest department initially pegged as a man-animal conflict, while locals believed to be murder, but there seems to be no concrete proof of either theory.

To resolve the conundrum, the forest department on Wednesday wrote to the autopsy department at Sidharth Hospital in Goregaon, who conducted the post-mortem of the remains, to give a more detailed report and state the clear reason for the death. Sources from the department said that they feel there were two piercing marks on her body that remain unexplained and could possibly be ante-mortem (before death).

Clarity on death
Speaking to mid-day, Jitendra Ramgaonkar, deputy conservator of forest, Thane Forest Department (Territorial), said, "We have written a letter to the doctor who conducted the post-mortem, asking him to reanalyze the report and inform us if the death of the girl was an animal attack or if she succumbed to something else. Based on their report, we will take a call about the compensation awarded to cases of man-animal conflict."

Currently, the officials at forest department suspect that the deceased was killed first, and later eaten by some animal. According to the department, the puncture marks found on the deceased's body and the fractured bones indicate they were made before she died.

mid-day's report on May 16 about the case

Severely decomposed
However, a source in the autopsy wing noted that the body was severely decomposed at the time of the autopsy. "It was impossible to distinguish whether the injuries were post-mortem (after-death) or ante-mortem in nature," said the source.

Meanwhile, senior police inspector Vijay Oulkar said, "We are investigating the case and all the angles are being looked at. I have not seen the post-mortem report, so I would be able to comment only when I read it."