Heroin overdose case in shimla

1. Shimlamanconvictedin
heroinoverdosedeath
case

2. Introduction
• Prithvi Raj, resident of a village in Chirgaon, has been held guilty of
causing the woman’s death and dumping her body in a gorge near
Bekhalti, more than two years after the victim went missing from
her home and was later found dead.
• The victim, a resident of Bhonda village in Chirgaon, went missing
from her home on the night of March 30, 2018. A few days later,
Raj was arrested in the case and accused of abducting her. Police
then recovered the victim’s body from a forest area in Chaura
village and also charged him with murder and causing
disappearance of evidence.
• According to the police and other prosecution witnesses, the victim
travelled with Raj and a minor from Chirgaon to Kharapathar in
Raj’s Maruti Alto on the night of March 30 and consumed chitta
(heroin).
 They returned to a place between Kharapathar and Rohru, and started
towards Shimla the next day, consuming more chitta on the way.
• Another woman, Himani, joined them from Sawara till Dhalli. In
Shimla, Raj and the minor left the victim at Lakkar Bazar for
sometime but when they returned, she was unconscious.

3. Presuming her to be dead, Raj drove out of the city and threw
her body in a gorge in Chaura forest, the prosecution said. He
also dumped her bags, mobile phone and other articles in
Theog.
The police recovered the body and the items.
The police then arrested him.

4. EVIDENCES
• RECOVERY OF silver foils from his room.
• Testimonies of some key witnesses.
These evidences helped establish that a 42-year-old man gave
heroin to a 19-year-old girl, leading to her death due to overdose
in Shimla in 2018, according to the judgment in the case
announced by a sessions court this week.

5. HEROIN
Heroin is a drug that comes from a flower,
the opium poppy. It can look like a white or
brown powder, or a sticky black “tar.”
Many people smoke or snort heroin. Most
users inject it into their veins. That’s the
most dangerous way to take it, because it’s
easier to overdose
Short-term effects of heroin include:
•Euphoria
•A dry mouth
•Warm, flushed skin
Long-term heroin use can lead to:
•Collapsed veins
•Insomnia

6. Analysis of heroin
o Some of the professional methods to analyse heroin is Infrared
spectroscopy , Raman spectroscopy , and ion mobility spectrometry.
o Mass spectrometry is the current gold standard in forensic drug
analysis.
o In general ,mass spectrometry requires separation of particles which
can be accomplished by GC or LC.

7. Testimonies of some key witnesses.
•The judgment stated that Himani, the woman who had joined them to
come to Shimla from Sawara on March 31, had testified that “Raj was
giving her (the victim) the chitta”. Another witness, Sheetal Tanta, who runs
a cafe at Sawara, testified that Raj had told him about the drug overdose
death and the throwing away of the body. Tanta also admitted during his
cross-examination that Raj used to supply heroin to him. Moreover, the
police recovered some burnt and unburnt foils from Raj’s rented room in
Bhonda and a forensic report confirmed the presence of heroin on the foil.
•“Raj is found to be dealing in heroin from the evidence…he had been
giving heroin to the victim for consumption on the two nights before her
death…This morphine is a toxic substance, in simple words it is a sort of
poison. Giving poison i.e. heroin to the victim by Raj incurs the criminal
liability of causing her death, which in legal terms is culpable homicide,”
said the judgment.

8. Conclusion
• The forensic examination of the victim’s visceral
samples confirmed that she had died due to the toxic
effects of diacetyl morphine (heroin) and its
metabolite 6-monoacetylmorphine.
• Raj has been sentenced to an imprisonment of ten
years under section 304II and 201 of the IPC. He
was acquitted of the charge of abduction because
there was no evidence that he forcibly took the
deceased with him.

9. If the act is done with knowledge that it is likely to cause
death but without any intention to cause death or such
bodily injury as is likely to cause death, the punishment is
imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend to 10 years, or with fine, or with both under the
second part of section 304.
Circumstances falling under Part 2 of Section 304 (IPC)
Whoever, knowing or having reason to believe that an
offence has been committed, causes any evidence of the
commission of that offence to disappear, with the intention
of screening the offender from legal punishment, or with
that intention gives any information respecting the offence
which he knows or believes to be false.
Circumstances falling under Section 201 (IPC)

11. References
•https://indianexpress.com/article/india/shimla-man-
convicted-in-heroin-overdose-death-case-witness-
testimonies-recovery-of-foils-from-his-room-established-
accuseds-culpability-6524133/
•http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-3192-
scope-and-applicability-of-part-1-and-2-of-section-304-
for-culpable-homicide.
•https://devgan.in/ipc/section/201/

12. WORKLOAD STUDENT’S NAME
CASE JEEVASHREE
PPT KHUSHI AGARWAL
MITHUN
PRESENTERS PRASIDDI SHETTY
SUNAINA