Former Goa Medical College Dean, Manindra Pal, in soup

Panaji : A former Goa Medical College (GMC) dean faces the allegation of accepting bribe to manipulate records as an Examiner for medical students as a co-academic has made a startling deposition in a 2008 murder case of a senior citizen.

Dr Edmund Rodrigues, Associate Professor of Forensic Medicine GMC told the Sessions Judge that Dr Manindra Pal was bribed to manipulate records during medical examination few years ago.

?Dr Pal had suffered a stigma during his service tenure being involved in taking money while functioning as an Examiner for the medical students,? Dr Rodrigues deposed as prosecution?s 16th witness in the case.

The Sessions Judge is hearing a two-year old murder case of Vasant Sastikar, 65, who was allegedly killed by Manohar Sastikar and his son Shailesh over ancestral property issue, in Bardez taluka. The victim was hit on his head with a brass object.

67-year-old Manohar died during the course of trial, while, his son is presently lodged in judicial lock-up since his arrest in 2008.

Dr Rodrigues,who conducted post-mortem on the deceased suggested the cause of death was ?due to head injury consequent to blunt force impact by object which was necessarily fatal and fresh at time of death.?

The former dean, who deposed on behalf of the accused-pair, during his cross-examination, admitted of being a gynecologist and that he never conducted autopsies.

Whereas, the forensic expert claimed that he had conducted more than 6000 autopsies during his 24 year tenure.