Autopsy report says Munde died due to 'shock and haemorrhage'

Union Minister Gopinath Munde died due to "shock and haemorrhage" following injuries to his neck and liver, as per the preliminary autopsy report submitted to Delhi Police by AIIMS doctors.

The Union minister suffered internal injuries in abdomen and neck and there was fracture separation of cervical vertebra between C1 and C2 (atlanto-axial joint) associated with transaction of spinal cord.

The wound was associated with laceration of vertebral artery with other neck vessels and muscles and haematoma measuring about 1,000 cc, the report mentions.

The report says that in Munde's case, it is shock and haemorrhage consequent upon blunt ante-mortem injuries to the neck and liver.

Investigators have collected Munde's hair sample from the Maruti Suzuki SX4 car in which he was travelling when the accident took place as forensic evidence.

Explaining the technical terms, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had on Tuesday said, "The major thing that cost him very heavily was a fracture of the cervical spines C1 and C2. When you have fracture at C1 and C2, the blood supply at the brain gets cut off because the vertebral artery gets damaged immediately."

The atlanto-axial joint is the highest joint in the spinal column and it lies just at the base of the skull.

"Peritoneal (or lining of the abdominal) cavity contained about 500 ml of fluid and clotted blood. The liver had lacerations of size 5x1 cm over right lobe at lower lateral aspect, contused lacerated wound of size 5x3 cm present over left lobe involving upper and posterior aspect," the report said.

Vardhan had also said Munde suffered cervical fractures and oxygen to the brain and lungs may have been cut off following the injuries. His liver had tear at 2-3 places and there was one-and-half litres of blood in his abdomen because of the injury, he said.

In terms of external injuries, there were aberrations over the nose and below the right eye on Munde's body.

Union rural development minister and a popular backward class leader from Maharashtra, 64-year-old Gopinath Munde was on his way to the airport to catch a flight for Mumbai when his car was hit by another vehicle at Prithviraj Road-Tughlak Road intersection in the heart of the capital on Tuesday.

Image: Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde's body accompanied by relatives and party members, in Mumbai Photograph: Sahil Salvi