Anomaly in Ruchika's medical report: Lawyer

Chandigarh, Dec 26 - Lawyer Pankaj Bhardwaj, who has fought Ruchika Girhotra's molestation case free of cost for the last 13 years, Saturday raised questions on the then medical report of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here.

"We have observed some serious anomalies in the medical report, which played a crucial role during the court's trial. The report that was submitted with the police after Ruchika's suicide said she died because of excessive intake of obesity medicine," Bhardwaj told IANS.

He added: "It is quite rare that intake of slimming pills could cause death. To escape various medical formalities and legal intricacies, they just tried to hush up the matter by citing this as a reason behind the death."

A special CBI court in Chandigarh had Monday held S. P. S. Rathore, former Haryana director general of police, guilty of molesting 14-year-old Ruchika in Panchkula town Aug 12, 1990 and sentenced him to a six-month prison term.

The budding tennis player committed suicide three years after the incident.

Bhardwaj said: "Rathore's atrocities over Ruchika's family forced the innocent girl to commit suicide. We would again appeal in the higher court to reopen the case and to add the charge of abetment-to-suicide against Rathore."