AIIMS Patna Board Flags Missing Papers in NEET Aspirant Death Probe

The SIT, which is looking into the case, "has not provided all crucial documents to it so far," according to the AIIMS Patna medical board, which reviewed the post-mortem report and other circumstances surrounding the recent death of a NEET applicant on Saturday.

Earlier this month, the 18-year-old Jehanabad resident was discovered unconscious in a private ladies' hostel in Chitragupt Nagar, Patna.

In order to receive coaching for the medical entrance exam, she was residing at the hostel. After being in a coma for several days, she passed away on January 11 at a private hospital. Her relatives had claimed that she had been sexually molested and accused the police of trying to hide it.

The case is being looked into by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Talking to reporters here on Saturday, head of the medical board, Dr Binay Kumar (Professor of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology), AIIMS Patna, said, "We have not been provided all crucial documents related to the case by the SIT so far… based on which we can draw a conclusion or give our opinion on the case.

"Documents which have been provided by the SIT to the board are not sufficient… We are still waiting for some more crucial documents. The SIT is investigating the case, and the medical board has also started examining the documents." He, however, refused to divulge details about the documents which have not been provided so far to the medical board by the SIT.

"The board comprises five senior doctors of different departments of AIIMS…and we are examining documents that have been provided to us. If required, we will add more senior doctors to the panel," said Kumar.

The owner of the girls' hostel was taken into custody by the police after the NEET candidate's murder sparked widespread demonstrations in Patna. According to the physicians' preliminary results, she had typhoid and had taken a lot of sleeping drugs, which is why she died. However, "sexual violence can't be ruled out" as a cause of the occurrence, according to the girl's post-mortem report.

Despite her family alleging assault and sexual abuse, police maintained that medical reports and CCTV footage ruled out this.

"Doctors found no signs of sexual assault and said she had consumed a large quantity of sleeping pills and was suffering from typhoid," Patna police had claimed in a statement issued on January 13.