IB staffer Ankit Sharma, killed in Delhi riots, was stabbed 12 times & had 33 blunt injuries

New Delhi: Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma, who was murdered during the Northeast Delhi communal riots last month, was stabbed 12 times and sustained 51 injuries in total, according to his post-mortem report.

This goes against the claims made by news channels, publications and politicians that Sharma was stabbed more than 400 times and his intestine pulled out.

According to Sharma’s post-mortem report — accessed by ThePrint — he sustained 12 “incised stab wounds”. The biggest measured 5x1x7 cm, and was on the left side of his leg. The other wounds were on his thighs, hip, back, chest, arms and spine.

Although the report shows that Sharma was stabbed all over his body, most of the stab wounds were concentrated on his back and spine.

Apart from the stab wounds, there are six “incised wounds” that were made using a sharp-edged weapon. The biggest incised wound was on his forehead, measuring “8.0X1.0X cavity depth (in cm)”.

Stab and incised wounds are both inflicted using a sharp weapon — in this case a knife — but the difference between the two is of depth. If the depth of the wound is more that the length of the wound then it is called a stab wound, otherwise it is referred to as an incised wound.

An incised wound can also be a cut or a slash (that is not deep) made by a sharp weapon.

Also read: IB officer Ankit Sharma’s death case of ‘targeted killing’, AAP’s Tahir Hussain named in FIR

Beaten more than stabbed

The post-mortem report also says that Sharma was beaten mercilessly due to which he sustained 33 injuries. He was simultaneously stabbed multiple times.

Sharma sustained 13 “lacerated wounds”, mostly on his head and face, that are caused after a person either has an accident or is beaten up by a “blunt object”.

“If a person has sustained a lacerated wound, it means that he was hit by a blunt object forcefully which often first damages the skin tissues and then the muscle,” a forensic expert, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint. “These injuries too can leave an impact, leading to a depression on the flesh, but these are not stabs or cuts.”

The post-mortem report also mentions that Sharma sustained seven “Railway track contusions”, which were “red to purple” in colour and were 14×2 cm in size. These wounds were mostly on his upper body and thighs.

These too are injuries that a person sustains when he is beaten up with a blunt object, especially a “cylindrical, elongated object”, the forensic expert added.

“A Railway contusion is a wound that is inflicted when a person is beaten up repeatedly by cylindrical objects like a rod, lathi or a baton. These injuries, when inflicted, leave a blue, purple or red mark on the body. These are basically patterned contusions or in lay man’s language they are called bruises,” the expert said.

Apart from these injuries, Sharma also sustained four “contusion injuries”, five “L and V shaped contused lacerated wounds” and four sets of “multiple abrasions”.

Contusions are black and blue bruises that are sustained if a person is hit forcefully by a blunt object. Contused lacerated wounds are contusions along with lacerated wounds.

While most contusions were found on Sharma’s thighs, legs and shoulders, the contused lacerated wounds were concentrated on his face and head.

Also read: ‘Effort to denigrate Indian institutions’ — IPS body hits out at NYT article on Delhi riots