Concealed Homicides

In Medico-legal autopsies conducted routinely in death due to thermal injury, the absence of ante-mortem signs of burns on the body of the deceased is evidence enough for it to be a postmortem burn. In most of the cases, the postmortem burns are a result of an afterthought, mainly to conceal the true crime. Such burns are done in the perimortem period, making the diagnosis during autopsy more difficult. The charring present in the post-mortem burns makes the diagnosis more dubious. The post-mortem burning of the body is a phenomenon repeated again and again by the assailants to hide the findings of the antemortem homicidal attack, thus misleading the investigators of law. The ignorance, lack of experience or misinterpretation by a Forensic Pathologist conducting the autopsy may misguide the investigation agencies. We report two such cases where the bodies were burnt to conceal the true crime and also the identity of the individual. A thorough postmortem examination revealed the true nature of crime in both instances.