Kerala man who killed Dr Vandana Das tried Scottish murderer's escape act, Docs & counsel saw right through him

G Sandeep, convicted of Dr Vandana Das's murder, matched his ruthless way of killing with a nerd-like research to build his defence. He had inflicted as many as 26 wounds on Vandana, of which 23 were stab wounds. Within days of his arrest, he conjured up the tale of a man who had lost his mind. The story was peppered with medical jargon. Without a stutter, he recounted the symptoms he had painstakingly absorbed from books in prison.

Doctors who were on the medical board who evaluated Sandeep remember a well-mannered man who was so sure of himself. He turned up wearing neat dress, combed-hair and spoke with clarity. "He would enlist all the symptoms and even present a diagnosis. It was as though he laid out a path and he wanted us to follow him. His academic background helped him, we saw an intelligent mind at work," one of the doctors told Onmanorama.
Days after the crime, Sandeep not even remotely resembled the dishevelled man with an unkempt face, who had unleashed brute force to kill a helpless, young doctor on duty.

The manner in which Sandeep stuck with his tale left the prosecution and police with an enormous task. Sandeep knew that his only exit was section 84 of the IPC, which says that nothing is an offence if it is done by a person of unsound mind. If the court accepted this insanity plea, he knew his punishment would be mild.

Special Public prosecutor Prathap G Padikkal drew the attention of the court towards the need to distinguish legal sanity and medical sanity during the trial. He quoted from infamous cases in India where once a man slit his friend's throat while he was sleeping. He wasn't punished for the crime, because he told the court that he wanted to slice open a throat simply because he was curious to know how it looks like. "That was a case of insanity. In another case, a man smacked a person to death using a stone. He also pleaded insanity, in that case, it didn't stand because he showed an awareness to wrap the stone with a sack before the murder. That showed application of mind," said Prathap G Padikkal.

As many as 35 medical experts were examined during Vandana Das's murder trial, which included physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists and forensic specialists. 

Sandeep had presented himself as a man suffering from third-person auditory hallucination, a symptom of schizophrenia, in which the patient hears voices. He would enlist those symptoms and experiences he went through during his sessions with the Medical board. For all the rigour, he put in to present a psychotic version of himself, there was something he missed. The prosecution cashed in on this elementary flaw.

"In the case of auditory hallucination, it is also accompanied by other symptoms. While Sandeep presented his case pretty well, we sat through giving him an impression that we had bought his story. The fact was that he was presenting half-baked knowledge. Some of the accompanying symptoms were missing in his story," a doctor who evaluated him said.

The prosecution exposed chinks in his tale during the trial. Sandeep had managed to get hold of the surgical scissors to attack Vandana. "If he were of unsound mind, he would have done it openly. All his acts were done furtively, indicating he calculated his every move, which an insane person is incapable of doing," said Prathap. Having obtained the scissors, Sandeep stabbed Vandana, attempted to murder a cop, another man and after all these, he washed the murder weapon and tried to hide it. The police meticulously recorded these acts and prosecution did the rest.

During the trial, the prosecution recalled the M'Naghten case of 1843 recorded in England which later formed the basis of insanity test during trials. A scottish woodturner by profession, he was accused of murdering Edward Drummond, Secretary to the UK Prime Minister Robert Peel. He had shot him point-blank from behind at Downing street. Theory was abound that his real target was Peel.

At trial, M'Naghten pleaded not guilty saying that he was not in a sound state of mind. Legal portal 'Lawlibrary collections' shows that according to his medical expert's testimony, the delusions were so real to him that his state of mind 'carried him away beyond the power of his own control'. The jury found him not guilty. "This case formed the origin of section 84. We were able to prove in the court that medical insanity and legal insanity are two different aspects," said Prathap G Padikkal.