Antop Hill murder: Forensic experts call for central implant database

The implant found in the leg of the Antop Hill murder victim

September 2021, Antop Hill murder - Surgical plate in leg helped police identify the victim. November 2019, Vakola resident Bennett Rebello - Odontologists at Sion hospital found he had undergone dental prosthesis for seven teeth, including root canal treatment in five, and fixing of ceramic and metal crows in all seven. The odontological study of the skull helped in identifying Rebello.

March 2018 - Kochi police identified a body found in a barrel, covered with concrete and dumped along the backwaters of Kumbalam, Kerala, from the surgical implant in the deceased's ankle. In all the above cases, the common aspect was that police found unidentified dismembered bodies, and identified them through their surgical implants.

‘Need alternative methods'

Forensic experts in the state said that when conventional textbook methods of identification, like visual recognition and dental comparison, can't be used to identify a deceased, it becomes necessary to consider alternative ways. An orthopaedic implant in a body may assist in identification, if ante-mortem medical records are available. The need of the hour is to make it mandatory for all surgical implant manufacturers to have a unique identification code, which should be stored in a central system.

This also became crucial, especially after the UIDAI (Aadhaar) told the Delhi High Court that its technologies permit biometric authentication on a person-to-person basis, but for that the Aadhaar number of the said individual was mandatory. The agency also said that it doesn't collect biometric data, viz. iris scan and fingerprints, based on technologies and standards or procedures suitable for forensics, therefore, using the biometric data for identification of unknown/unidentified bodies may not be technologically feasible.

Interestingly, in 2015, Maharashtra topped the states in the number of unidentified bodies found in the country, at 6,185, as per the National Crime Records Bureau data. In 2016, India found 34,592 unidentified bodies. Between January 1, 2019 and March 31, 2019, 367 such bodies were found.

Forensic experts said if some of these unidentified deceased had a surgical implant, its unique identification code could have been used to trace the manufacturer and then the hospital where the deceased underwent the surgery. And if all this data could be stored in one central system, police from any part of the country could access the records, and the number of unidentified deceased can be brought down. This may also be helpful in identification of victims/next of kin during natural calamity.

Positive identification

Dr Indrajit Khandekar, professor of forensic medicine and toxicology at MGIMS, Sevagram, Wardha, said, "Establishing the identity of unknown persons is a challenging task for forensic experts and it is more difficult if the body is decomposed or only skeletal remains are available."

"In most cases, dental records, post-mortem radiography, DNA profiling, fingerprinting, etc. have been used for establishing the deceased's identity. However, these methods are expensive and require additional data which is not possible most of the time. Implanted medical or surgical devices can help in positive identification and become a rapid and inexpensive method, if a central database is maintained for effective tracking," he added.

Ahmedabad-based Mayur Bathani, whose company had manufactured the implant found in the leg of Antop Hill victim, had earlier told mid-day, "Every manufacturer has their unique code and identification marks printed/embossed on their implants... but this is limited for our referral purpose...and we usually keep records of three to four years."

Need central system

Dr Rajesh Dhere, professor and HoD of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Sion hospital, said, "There is a need for a central registration system, where all the surgical and dental implants, pacemakers, etc., are to be mandatorily registered by both the manufacturer and the hospital where the operation is done."

"There is not a single authority registry record of any such surgical implants in India. In foreign nations, a case like this would take minutes to confirm the patient details, as each implant has a unique unrepeatable code, along with central digitised registration. A similar system in today's digital India must be a norm," said Dr Dhere.

Dr Dhere, who is also the secretary of Maharashtra Medico Legal Association, will soon be discussing the matter with the executive committee of the association, and also make necessary presentations to the authorities of the state and central governments requesting to set up a centralised data system.

Mandatory registration from ‘22

Dr Khandekar said, "As per Rule 46 of Medical Devices Rules, 2017, Unique Device Identification (UDI) of the medical device will be effective from January 1, 2022. As per these rules, a medical device approved for manufacture for sale or distribution or import, shall bear UDI that shall contain device and production identifier." Medical device rules also have a provision to develop a UDI database, but they don't provide procedures for using this system for crime investigations, he explained.

Other side

Amol Deshmukh, officer on special duty, Maharashtra, said, "It is the need of the hour to have a central database for all implants that can be integrated with other forensic data for quick identification of unknown/unclaimed bodies."