New Delhi, March 5 (IANS) Officials of Delhi’s Subji Mandi mortuary abandoned over 25 unclaimed bodies and kept them outside its premises as police were not taking the bodies back for the last rites for over a month.
According to an official, the bodies were brought to the Subji Mandi mortuary, under the Delhi government’s Aruna Asaf Ali hospital, for post-mortem examination but were not taken back even after the formalities were completed.
The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon.
“Usually, police bring unclaimed bodies so that the post-mortem examination can be performed. But for the past some days, police officials did not come back even to inquire about the bodies,” L.C. Gupta, an official with the Subji Mandi mortuary, said in a statement.
He said police officials from north Delhi’s Kashmiri Gate police station brought 27 bodies on January 15. “They didn’t come back to inquire even after the post-mortem examination was performed.”
Later, Delhi Police took the bodies and performed the last rites.
A senior police official on Thursday said after they were informed about the situation, they took the bodies and performed the last rites.
“Police have various other work which are equally important. This is the reason behind such delay,” he said.