Jaipur: Senior professor and head of forensic medicine department at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital, 61-year-old Dr Nandalal (N.L.) Disaniya, was found hanging at his residence in Jaipur Wednesday. Police suspect suicide, though investigations are underway. His death has left colleagues, students and the medical fraternity in shock.According to police, Dr Disaniya’s family was away from their Jhotwara residence. When they returned late Tuesday night, they found him hanging from the ceiling. He was rushed to a private hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. A board constituted by SMS Medical College conducted the postmortem.A senior faculty member with nearly three decades of service at SMS Hospital, Dr Disaniya was regarded as one of Rajasthan’s leading forensic medicine experts. He played a key role in strengthening medico-legal services, autopsy practices, injury interpretation, and forensic research while mentoring generations of medical students.A senior SMS hospital official saidHospital officials said he was instrumental in modernising the department. Earlier this year, he oversaw the establishment of a toxicology and drug-level laboratory at SMS Hospital. Built at a cost of about Rs 1 crore, the facility can detect and measure drugs, poisons and other chemical substances in blood, urine, saliva, hair and tissue samples, improving the diagnosis and management of poisoning cases.Dr Disaniya authored several important medico-legal studies. His research on sharp-weapon assault injuries analysed 93 cases, highlighting the predominance of male victims, urban incidents, incised wounds and haemorrhagic shock in fatal cases.His research on firearm injuries documented 115 gunshot cases among over 23,500 medico-legal registrations at SMS Hospital, while another study on fatal flame burns among women highlighted the continuing need for fire safety awareness.Colleagues remembered Dr Disaniya as a disciplined academic, accomplished forensic expert and mentor whose work significantly strengthened forensic medicine and medico-legal education in Rajasthan.
