The second post-mortem examination ended at 8.30 pm, and the family was then allowed to take the body for cremation.

The first autopsy was conducted in the morning and after the four-hour procedure, doctors managed to extract a single bullet. After police demanded that all the bullets be extracted, a second autopsy was conducted in the evening and three more bullets were extracted in a one-hour procedure, a source said.

Police sources said six to seven bullets hit Ponty and there were 12 to 15 gunshot wounds on his body, including entry and exit wounds.

“The three bullets were lodged deep inside the body, and extracting them was taking too much time,” a doctor from AIIMS Forensic Medicine said. Ideally, the doctor said, all bullets should be extracted for evidence.

A person close to Ponty’s family said: “We waited at AIIMS for over four hours and no senior police officer was present when the body was finally handed over to us (in the morning) for cremation. Police should have checked the post-mortem report then.”

He said police intervened when the body was about to reach the Chhattarpur farmhouse. “Police told us that the post-mortem report was incomplete, and bullets were inside the body. We were shocked to know that a second post mortem had to be conducted,” he said.

Sources said Hardeep received four wounds, and two bullets were recovered from his body.