The Hindu : National : It was Veerappan, says forensic expert

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 22, 2004

National

National

It was Veerappan, says forensic expert

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, OCT. 21. The identity of Veerappan, who was shot dead near Paparapatti in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu by the Special Task Force on Monday, has been confirmed by a study of the "anatomical structure of his external ears."

P. Chandra Sekharan, former director of the Tamil Nadu Forensic Science Laboratory, told The Hindu here today that a study of the anatomical structure of the external ears of Veerappan from both the post-mortem and ante-mortem photographs confirmed that it was the brigand.

The anatomical structure of the external ear is different in each person and this constituted a characteristic feature of personal identification. The combination of various parts of the external ear such as helix, antihelix, triangular fossa, scapha, concha, tragus, antitragus and lobule is unique to each person.

Comparing the left and the right ears in the ante-mortem and post-mortem photographs and the video footage of Veerappan, he said the bandit's ear had flat tragus formation and the tragus was contiguous with the curved portion of helix. The lobule was square and enlarged.

"The left and the right ears had similar features. These peculiar features, in my opinion, are more than enough to confirm Veerappan's identity."

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