Two days after DNA reported the arrest of an agent who fleeced relatives of a Mumbai blast victim to obtain his body, JJ hospital authorities have stumbled upon a racket that “facilitated” the transfer the dead out of city limits, for a price.
Arrested ‘agent’ Kalika Prasad Upadhyaya was found in possession of several blank certificates allowing the transfer of bodies.
“These certificates had seals and signatures of authorised doctors. Such certificates are issued by the BMC’s health official only after a post-mortem and if the body has to be taken outside city limits,” JJ hospital dean Dr TP Lahane told DNA.
Upadhyaya had demanded Rs24,000 from the relatives of Prabhat Nayak, who died in the Zaveri Bazaar blast, to transfer his body to Kolkata. If a body has to be taken outside city limits, it has to be embalmed by medicos to prevent decomposition. It has emerged that several private agencies illegally embalm bodies and issue the same certificates.
“Hospital authorities had embalmed Nayak’s body. But a private agency claimed it was not done. The agency then made a show of embalming the already embalmed body and issued a certificate to his relatives, saying this must be shown in case someone stopped them,” said Lahane.
BMC’s chief executive, health, Dr Anil Bandivdekar, said he was not aware of the scam, but said the authorities would get to the bottom of it.
The Mumbai police have already begun an inquiry and are questioning Upadhyaya.
“There are people who are in the business of transporting bodies from the city to a hospital elsewhere. They charge money. But in this case, the touts demanded more money,” said Chhering Dorje, deputy commissioner of police (Zone I). “We are investigating the modus-operandi of these people. We are checking if more people were fleeced.”
To put a stop to the racket, JJ hospital would henceforth not allow private ambulances parking in its premises. “They can park outside the mortuary and post-mortem centre. These “agents” are usually seated in ambulances and exploit people by demanding a huge sum. We want to end the malpractice,” Lahane said.
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