In a shocking incident that speaks volumes of the callousness of the authorities, the family of deceased person has been denied access to his body. The reason, the body has gone missing!
The body of Mangali Krishna (53), was absent from the Osmania General Hospital mortuary on Saturday when the family members went to collect it. Krishna, who hailed from Siddapur village in Kothur mandal of Mahbubnagar district, was admitted to the OGH on the night of March 16 after an epileptic attack, family members who admitted him to the hospital said.
Complaint lodged
He, however, went missing on the night of March 17.
“Our relatives searched for him in the surroundings, but could not find him,” Krishna’s relative P. Narsimha said.
Worried, the family lodged a complaint with the Afzalgunj police on March 19. They then returned to their native village.
“Some of our relatives kept checking at the mortuary and the police station, but they said no such body has been found so far,” another relative G. Venkatesh said. On Friday, however, the family received a phone call from the police to come and identify the photograph of a body.
“We came to police station and identified Krishna through the photograph. Later, the police said he was found dead at Habeebnagar and asked us to go to the police station there,” Venkatesh said.
The family spent around three hours at the police station and then came to the mortuary to collect the body.
“We reached the mortuary by around 6 p.m. It was closed by then and the staff asked us to come on Saturday. When we did, they said the body had been handed over to the GHMC.”
Apathetic attitude
The family members complained that delay on part of the police and the apathetic attitude of the mortuary administration had led to the current predicament. They plan to lodge a police complaint against the mortuary staff.
“The staff have failed to show us proof about the body being handed over to the GHMC and cremated. We suspect it has been sold off,” Venkatesh expressed doubts.
Meanwhile, forensic department authorities at the OGH said while unidentified bodies were normally kept for only three days, it was kept for six days at the mortuary before being handed over to the GHMC for cremation.
