Doctors at the Victoria Hospital here and forensic experts in charge of DNA profile matching of the Nanded Express fire accident victims are facing pressure as anxious relatives are approaching politicians to get doctors hand over bodies based on personal identification, though the government has instructed that DNA profiling is compulsory.
The forensic team, which is now in a fix, is trying to convince the politicians, including Ministers, that the bodies cannot be handed over without a genetic matching. “While a relative claimed a body on the basis of cracks in the heels of the dead person, another identified a body on the basis of an undergarment. We cannot hand over the bodies based on such general identification. Only a genetic matching can prove the relationship and this is a must,” the sources said.
“Genetic matching is important to avoid fraud and embarrassment to the government as compensation is involved. While respecting the sentiments of the relatives, we are taking utmost care to ensure that there is no goof-up,” the sources said.
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Since Saturday, two Ministers, including one Union Minister, two MLAs, a former Minister and a personal assistant of a senior official from the Legislative Assembly have intervened to get doctors hand over bodies to the relatives.
An anxious relative, who had got a former Minister visit the morgue on Saturday to influence the doctors, again called the same politician on Sunday. However, the politician who was convinced with the doctors’ explanation returned without intervening.