Before I narrate this story, I must set the stage. In 1973, I was studying Forensic Medicine. It was one of the subjects I liked best. A great fan of detective and crime fiction, I was entrhalled by the various stories pertaining to crime. There was a very good reason for it - Professor Laxman Pai - a very well read person with a fluent Shakespearean English and a fantastic skill of narration was our professor of Forensic Medicine. He would narrate the stories pertaining to crime, detection and poisonings which would hold us spell bound. No body would utter a word. Everyone attended his classes. We adored him and his stories. The story I am going to tell is one such which I shall never forget!
Around 1940 s, the victim, a well to do Kensington widow was lured to Crawley, shot, stripped of a fur coat and jewellery. An attempt was made to get rid of her body. The law at that time said that if no body was found however strong the circumstantial evidence was, no one could be convicted. The murderer wanted to take shelter behind this rule and walk away scot free. And he almost did. How did he get caught? That is the most interesting part of the story!
Mr. Haigh, who allegedly murdered the lady, immersed her in a tub of commercial sulfuric acid for some days and then when almost everything got dissolved, he buried the few remains in the surface soil in a yard rented by him. Almost everything was dissolved in the strong commercial sulfuric acid - well, almost everything. The dentures, the gall stones and fragments of a few skeletal bones were not dissolved mainly because the Haigh had impatiently taken out the body a bit too soon out of the "acid bath". The dentures were conclusively identified by a dentist as being made by him for the missing woman. This evidence was not contested. Haigh confessed to 5 other similar murders which he had got away with. He was found to be guilty and hanged.
It was a near perfect crime. It is one of my favourate stories - the "Acid Bath Murder Case". I have narrated it to many batches of students.This story was invariably followed by a question to the students from me. "What is the poison you would use if you wanted to execute a perfect murder - the poison should have no color, no odour, work fast and be not easily traceable". May did not answer. many were not confident. I used to ask them to look up. Most never did. One particular student once said he could not find the answer in any book - what next. I jokinlgy said "Ask Professor Laxman Pai". In could nor imagine what followed. He went to Professor Laxman Pai and asked him the question - "How to kill someone with an unidentifiable poison and leave no trace?" Now a flabbergasted Dr. Laxman Pai asked him "Who wants to know?" Without batting an eyelid the student said - "Dr. Raghavendra bhat."Now it was Dr. laxman Pai's turn to get surprised - he took the phone (landline in those days) and asked me in a very surprised voice "Raghavendra Bhat, what are you up to?"
Needless to say I have stopped asking that question after this episode. But the story of "Acid Bath Murder Case" does not stop amusing me -for it was a very cleverly and near perfectly executed near perfect murder case- almost perfect did I say? A little impatience on the part of the perpetrator of crime sent him to the gallows- a near perfect murder indeed!
Around 1940 s, the victim, a well to do Kensington widow was lured to Crawley, shot, stripped of a fur coat and jewellery. An attempt was made to get rid of her body. The law at that time said that if no body was found however strong the circumstantial evidence was, no one could be convicted. The murderer wanted to take shelter behind this rule and walk away scot free. And he almost did. How did he get caught? That is the most interesting part of the story!
Mr. Haigh, who allegedly murdered the lady, immersed her in a tub of commercial sulfuric acid for some days and then when almost everything got dissolved, he buried the few remains in the surface soil in a yard rented by him. Almost everything was dissolved in the strong commercial sulfuric acid - well, almost everything. The dentures, the gall stones and fragments of a few skeletal bones were not dissolved mainly because the Haigh had impatiently taken out the body a bit too soon out of the "acid bath". The dentures were conclusively identified by a dentist as being made by him for the missing woman. This evidence was not contested. Haigh confessed to 5 other similar murders which he had got away with. He was found to be guilty and hanged.
It was a near perfect crime. It is one of my favourate stories - the "Acid Bath Murder Case". I have narrated it to many batches of students.This story was invariably followed by a question to the students from me. "What is the poison you would use if you wanted to execute a perfect murder - the poison should have no color, no odour, work fast and be not easily traceable". May did not answer. many were not confident. I used to ask them to look up. Most never did. One particular student once said he could not find the answer in any book - what next. I jokinlgy said "Ask Professor Laxman Pai". In could nor imagine what followed. He went to Professor Laxman Pai and asked him the question - "How to kill someone with an unidentifiable poison and leave no trace?" Now a flabbergasted Dr. Laxman Pai asked him "Who wants to know?" Without batting an eyelid the student said - "Dr. Raghavendra bhat."Now it was Dr. laxman Pai's turn to get surprised - he took the phone (landline in those days) and asked me in a very surprised voice "Raghavendra Bhat, what are you up to?"
Needless to say I have stopped asking that question after this episode. But the story of "Acid Bath Murder Case" does not stop amusing me -for it was a very cleverly and near perfectly executed near perfect murder case- almost perfect did I say? A little impatience on the part of the perpetrator of crime sent him to the gallows- a near perfect murder indeed!
Really interesting :) Reminds me of an episode from Breaking Bad . A drug trade had gone wrong and the dealers (One of them is a chemistry teacher) decided to get rid of the body by dissolving it using Acid .
ReplyDelete"Needless to say I have stopped asking that question after this episode."
ReplyDeleteTrue sir, ;)