DEATH OF INDIAN

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 April 1934, Page 2

DEATH OF INDIAN

USE OF BACTERIA ALLEGED. Remarkable allegations of a series of attempts on the life of the co-heir to an estate yielding £2500 annually were made at Calcutta, states the “Morning Post,” when a man named Pande, and two doctors —D. R. Dhar and T. N. Bhattacharya—were charged with conspiracy to murder Pande’s step-brother, Amarende, in the event of whose death Pande was to become the sole heir. The public prosecutor' said the ingenious idea had been conceived to murder Amarende by the introduction of plague bacilli into the body. The first attempt was made in October, 1932, when pince-nez were pressed on his nose, causing an abrasion. Later the sinus was cured. In November, 1933, Amarende was summoned to Calcutta by a bogus telegram. On the station a man rushed 1

past him, and he felt a 1)10 prick in his right arm, which developed serious symptoms. A culture taken of the blood was found to contain plague bacilla, although according to the medical authorities there had been no death in Calcutta for 50 years, such bacilli being found only in Bombay. There was evidence, said counsel, that beffire the station incident, Dr Bhattacharya and Pande visited Bombay, and the former asked another doctor for an introduction to the Bom-

bay Institute, where such bacilli were available. The papers were placed before the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, which gave the opinion that death was homicidal. Counsel added that Pande was arrested en route for Bombay, where, it- is alleged, he was going to interfere with the evidence of three other persons, including a woman wanted in the case. The accused were remanded, the two doctors being released on heavy bail.