Dr. B. Umadathan – Pioneer and senior most forensic expert and surgeon from Kerala

Dr. B. Umadathan (1946 – 2019) was a forensic expert and surgeon from Thiruvananthapuram, who has been associated with many high profile cases like Chacko murder by Sukumara Kurup, Polakkulam Peethambaran case, Sister Abhaya murder case etc. He has helped Kerala police in solving many crimes and murders through his talent and was first one to introduce forensic branch of medical science to Kerala investigation scene in the early 1980s. In fact the post of the medico-legal advisor was newly created in Kerala Police department after he gave some immense contributions to the field and made aware of its significance in solving mysteries. He published some of his experiences in this field through his books such as Kuttaanweshanathile Vaidyashastram, Oru Police Surgeonte Ormakuruppakal, Crime Keralam etc. He also taught at different government medical colleges of Kerala.

Dr. B. Umadathan was a family member of Chavarkodu, Varkkala, Thiruvananthapuram. His medical studies were completed in Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, after which joined Medical Education Department in 1969 as a lecturer. He taught at different medical colleges later, and also helped Kerala police department to solve several unsolved puzzles with the help of forensic science. He retired from government service in 2001, yet continued with his services to police department. He served as medico-legal expert, advisor and consultant in government department.

In the infamous Chacko death case of 1984, he concluded earlier itself that the dead person was not Sukumara Kurup. He could found out that a dead body was burned to fake his own death by Kurup to claim a huge insurance amount. Carbon was not found in the respiratory track or mouth of the corpse, which helped him to arrive in this conclusion. His path breaking findings brought great changes in forensic investigations in Kerala. In popular culture, many of the cases with which he was involved have been made to feature films.

Dead body of Malayalam actress Miss. Kumari was taken out from the burial after one year for investigation. He was present at the site along with forensic surgeon Dr. Kanthaswamy while taking photographs. Surprisingly the body was not decayed, and the reason behind it was explained in his book – Oru Police Surgeonte Ormakuruppakal. But it’s still an unsolved puzzle if the actress was murdered or not. Death of driver Johny and his family (which police earlier concluded as a suicide) at Idukki was confirmed as a murder through the scientific expertise of Umadathan. He also gave some immense contributions to prove that this heinous crime was conducted by Ripper Chacko.

Dr. B. Umadathan – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He is credited to giving hint to numerous high profile cases of Kerala. Miss Kumari death, Sister Abhaya death, Sukumara Kurup case etc are among those, which brought him to spotlight.

2. Some other sensational cases of the investigator are death of Polakkulam Peethambaran in 1983, Abkari contractor Munna murder case in 1992, death of Abkari contractor Mithila Mohan in 2006 and many others.

3. Basically he was a doctor and surgeon. But he was more interested in finding reasons behind normal deaths and murders, and to resolve the puzzles and secrets. He can be tagged as Kerala’s Sherlock Homes. 

4. He believed that each dead body silently tells the investigator how death occurred.  

5. He was able to give a final report to many death cases, which were suspected to be murder or not.