Chennai: The city police have sought the opinion of the forensic sciences department whether or not to exhume the bodies of the victims of the serial killings committed by realtor Stephen, besides altering both cases to murder from suspicious deaths.
Stephen, from Injambakkam, reportedly carried out the execution of his brother-in-law John Phelomena at Thousand Lights on April 19, 2015, by jabbing the latter with an umbrella carrying lethal shots of potassium cyanide. Thousand Lights police closed the case as a death due to acute myocardial infarction following the preliminary post-mortem reports.
The case was reopened, and assistance from forensic medicine sought to whether or not exhume the body for re-postmortem to ascertain the facts to support the confession made by Stephen in this regard.
A scientific officer pointed out that the heart bit should have been sent for histopathological examination, which was mandatory to establish cases pertaining to myocardial infarction.
“Even then, the medical officer could have made positive findings like atheromatous plaques present on iota, which would have given leeway to close the case as a death of natural cause overlooking the possibilities of poisoning. If it is organic poisoning, the chances of finding in the re-postmortem will be slim”, the scientific officer observed, under condition of anonymity.
“We are still not clear about the drug used by Stephen who claims it to be potassium cyanide. We have sent whatever we had salvaged from the syringes from his possession to find out the actual chemical components of the drug. It is only after we get the confirmation will we be able to proceed further”, said a senior police official privy to the investigation.
The next case reportedly involving Stephen was reported in city limits, on October 10, 2015, in which he got rid of Henry, who is the husband of his paramour. This case was also closed in similar fashion like the previous one. The third case comes under the purview of Kancheepuram police, and the city police have written to them to reopen the case of Sridhar, another victim of Stephen reportedly in Uthiramerur on May 17, 2015.
