Pellet found in victim's brain to serve as evidence

NEW DELHI; A metal pellet found lodged in a blast victim's brain will be submitted to police as evidence in the Delhi serial blasts, say doctors at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital here.

The pellet, which doctors say, may be made of an "alloy heavier than iron or steel" was recovered during a complex brain surgery on 20-year-old Neha Sharma, a victim of Saturday's terror blasts who was brought to the hospital from the central business district of Connaught Place. She is recovering.

“We will be submitting the metal shrapnel to the police - to be used as evidence in further investigation. The pellet had hit the back of the patient's head with great force and got lodged very deep - just short of damaging stem cells,” said LN Gupta, head of neurosurgery unit at RML Hospital.

"This suggests that the pellet was probably part of a bomb, rather than the result of the impact," added Gupta.

Doctors at the hospital feel the irregularly shaped metal shrapnel with "dangerously" sharp edges measuring about 1.5 inch by 0.75 inch may have been part of a bomb used in the blasts at Connaught Place. Two explosions took place there while three more took places in two other crowded market places in the capital, claiming at least 23 lives and injuring nearly 100.

"I was amazed to see the pellet," said S.K. Sharma, chief medical officer of RML. "I cringe at the thought of the sheer potential of this pellet when it strikes with force - if vital organs are hit by such a metal shrapnel, then deadly results could follow."

"I have previously served the armed forces and never have I seen shrapnel of this type in my experience," Sharma added.

 "A majority of patients admitted here Saturday sustained severe or minor injuries from such shrapnel," he said.

Gupta also said while Sharma was stable and recovering, another patient, Shama Goel, 25, had sustained severe brain injuries, and was also found to have "a smaller metal pellet" in a "difficult to access" part of her brain.

Gupta added that during surgery it was not found necessary to take out this metal piece, as it would not have hindered Goel's recovery.

“She is critical, and was weaned off the ventilator on Monday, and is under observation now,” he said.