Probe Sought In Deaths of 4 Scientists

LONDON—The deaths of four scientists involved in defense research, and the mysterious disappearance of a fifth, are causing considerable speculation here. Although the police initially treated the incidents as unrelated, opposition politicians have highlighted what could be a significant common factor—the men all were involved with advanced signal processing and software. Last August Vimal Dajibhal, 24, a computer programmer with Marconi Underwater Systems, was found underneath a bri

| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share

Last August Vimal Dajibhal, 24, a computer programmer with Marconi Underwater Systems, was found underneath a bridge in Bristol after an apparent suicide. Two months later another Marconi employee, Ashhad Sharif, 26, apparently killed himself by putting a noose around his neck, tying the rope to a tree and driving off in his car. The incident also occurred in Bristol, although Sharif worked for another Marconi division in London. In January Avtar Sinoh Gida, who was a friend of Dajibhal and was then completing a Ph.D. in acoustics technology at Loughborough University, was reported missing. He was testing underwater signals equipment for the Ministry of Defense. On March 30 defense engineer David Sands, 37, died after his car, loaded with petrol cans, crashed into an abandoned cafe in Hampshire. Sands was employed by Easame, a Marconi-owned company.

Home Secretary Douglas Hurd has instructed the police (who had previously claimed there ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here
July Digest 2025
July 2025, Issue 1

What Causes an Earworm?

Memory-enhancing neural networks may also drive involuntary musical loops in the brain.

View this Issue
Screening 3D Brain Cell Cultures for Drug Discovery

Screening 3D Brain Cell Cultures for Drug Discovery

Explore synthetic DNA’s many applications in cancer research

Weaving the Fabric of Cancer Research with Synthetic DNA

Twist Bio 
Illustrated plasmids in bright fluorescent colors

Enhancing Elution of Plasmid DNA

cytiva logo
An illustration of green lentiviral particles.

Maximizing Lentivirus Recovery

cytiva logo

Products

The Scientist Placeholder Image

Sino Biological Sets New Industry Standard with ProPure Endotoxin-Free Proteins made in the USA

sartorius-logo

Introducing the iQue 5 HTS Platform: Empowering Scientists  with Unbeatable Speed and Flexibility for High Throughput Screening by Cytometry

parse_logo

Vanderbilt Selects Parse Biosciences GigaLab to Generate Atlas of Early Neutralizing Antibodies to Measles, Mumps, and Rubella

shiftbioscience

Shift Bioscience proposes improved ranking system for virtual cell models to accelerate gene target discovery