Background: Human identification using footprint is an emerging biometric technique, and footprints as valuable physical evidence in crime scenes are used to link the crime to the perpetrator. Footprints can be collected from almost all types of crime scenes and the possibility of their recovery at the scenes of sexual offenses and homicide is relatively more. Aim and Objective: To estimate stature from footprint length measurements in Telugu people of Nalgonda district at Narketpally State Telangana South India. Place of Study: Department of forensic medicine and toxicology on the consenting adult males of Nalgonda District of Telangana State. Type of Study: Descriptive cross-sectional study with analytical and comparative components. Material and method: The subjects were confirmed to be descent from Nalgonda district and were specifically selected with residence of Nalgonda district only, irrespective of their caste, religion, dietary habits and socioeconomic status. The footprint measurements collected in 150 adult males’ volunteers with age of 18 to 40 years. Observation and Discussion: In footprint first toe - heel footprint length measurement, i.e. PRT1 and PLT1 was found to be longest, i.e. 24.789 cm and 24.795 cm respectively. In our study it was observed that the footprint length from left foot was larger in comparison to footprints from right foot. In both right and left footprint the first toe length was highest and it was observed that after the great toe length both left and right footprint length measurements from toe 2 to toe 5 till hill length gradually declined, i.e. 24.795 to 20.832 respectively. Simple linear regression equations accuracy in our study verified by comparing the estimated stature with actual stature revealed that both regression equations and scatter graphs indicated the existence of statistically significant positive correlation between footprint lengths and stature of Nalgonda populations. Conclusion: The result of this investigation provided regression equations for stature estimation from footprints in Nalgonda populations. The regression equations derived for this pooled sample can be used to estimate stature, as in real crime scenarios.

Keywords: Stature estimation; Footprints; Linear regression.