The mortuary area, away from the main circulatory area of Sri Venkateswara Ramnarain Ruia Government General Hospital in Tirupati, resembled a beehive on Tuesday with heavy deployment of policemen, the congregation of rights activists and the convergence of the local and national media.
The area was cordoned off for visitors and only doctors, nurses and patients were allowed in the vicinity, after duly checking their identity. Apart from the ambulances waiting to shift the bodies, the broadcasting vehicles of the media houses also choked the road leading to the mortuary, causing inconvenience to patients.
Hospital attendants pushing stretchers carrying patients found it difficult to manoeuvre through the crowd, as media persons scampered for sound bites around the slogan-shouting human rights activists, who carried placards condemning the encounter. However, an uneasy calm was palpable in the mortuary building beyond the heavily-barricaded entry point, where the post-mortem was done.
