Thiruvananthapuram: Dr B. Umadathan, forensic surgeon and former director of medical education, died aged 73 on Wednesday after a brief illness.
His funeral will take place on Thursday at 11 am at his house at Karikkakom near Chackai.
He leaves wife Padma Kumari and children U. Ramanathan, Dr U. Vishwanathan and daughters-in-law Roopa and Roshni.
Dr Umadathan introduced the word 'forensic' to Malayalis as he used to prolifically write about various murder cases he had unearthed which would have otherwise been remembered as natural deaths.
Dr Umadathan's intervention in Sister Abhaya with a medico-legal opinion was crucial. A former colleague recalled he was disappointed with several police investigations concluding innocent people as guilty.
"He used to share his experiences with his juniors working in various medical colleges. One of his untold stories was about biased forensic reports on certain cases like SME ragging case and one in favour of a nun involved in the Sister Abhaya case," said a senior forensic specialist.
He was born on March 12, 1946, to Prof K. Balaramapanicker, a Sanskrit scholar, writer and former principal of Government Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram and G. Vimala.
He took MBBS and MD from Thiruvananthapuram Medical College and entered public service as a tutor in the medical education department in 1969.
He had served as professor, department head and police surgeon in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Kottayam and Thrissur medical colleges and as government medico-legal expert and consultant, medical-legal advisor of Kerala Police. He had also served as a medico-legal consultant of Libya.
He was the principal of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College in 1995 and retired in 2001 as DME.
He was the forensic medical professor and departmental head of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Kochi.
He had authored many books including Oru Police Surgeonnte Ormakurippukal, Crime Keralam and Kuttaneshwathile Vaidyashasthram.
Amala Paul's upcoming film, Cadaver, a crime thriller, involves a real-life case handled by Dr Umadathan.
