The CBI has asked the directorate-general of health services (DGHS) to set up a board of forensic experts to go through Rizwanur Rahman’s post-mortem report and give their opinion about the cause of his death.

Senior members of the CBI team have returned to New Delhi to speed up the constitution of the board. “It should be done in a day or two,” said an official.

The CBI had sent the post-mortem report to AIIMS. The forensic department head, P.D. Dogra, had told the team that the report was inconclusive, especially because there were no accompanying photographs or video recordings. They had advised a second autopsy.

Questions were raised within the agency about Dogra’s opinion, since the doctor is under suspension. So, the investigators have decided to seek the opinion of a DGHS panel.

If the second committee’s advice is similar to that of the AIIMS doctors, then the CBI is likely to move court for permission to exhume the body and conduct another post-mortem.

“Apparently, the post-mortem was conducted properly,” said a CBI official. “The bones of Rizwanur’s hands were thoroughly examined. The surgeon did not find them broken. But we are specifically trying to find out if there was any injury on his hands, or in any other part of the body, that indicated the use of force on him.”