On July 8, 1995 the doctor was working as the chief medical officer at a civil hospital mortuary and conducted the postmortem on Pillai's body. The body was sent by the sub-divisional magistrate of Punjabi Bagh, Virender Kumar, through sub-inspector Parkash Chand, and it was identified by Pillai's brother-in-law Gopi Mohan.

Ramani said today that as far the external injuries were concerned the postmortem revealed that blood was oozing out of Pillai's mouth and nose and there was an abrasion over his sternum. However, a dissection revealed that there was no fracture, leading the doctor to conclude that the injury was probably a result of resuscitation efforts. ``There was no other mark of injury or violence anywhere on the body,'' said the doctor.

The internal examination revealed thatPillai's scalp tissue, skull bones and brain were normal. The doctor said that in his opinion, ``Death was due to asphyxia as a result of aspiration of blood in respiratory air-way, consequent to bleeding from ruptured oesophagus varieces, a complication of advanced stage of cirrhosis of liver.''

The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Pillai -- who was wanted in Singapore in cases relating to cheating and violation of the Companies Act -- on the night of July 3-4, 1995. He died at DDU Hospital on the night of July 7 after being allegedly beaten up by the Tihar jail staff and mistreated by the jail doctors.