Son returns from Canada for last rites, finds mother swapped, cremated

The staffers at the mortuary of civic body-run hospital in Ahmedabad allegedly mixed up the body of a woman and handed her over to a family that even cremated her without suspecting anything.

The matter came to light on Sunday when the woman's son landed in the city from Canada for her last rites and found that someone else had cremated his mother. Following a day-long inquiry into the incident, the police registered a case.

Police said that on November 11, 70-year-old Lekha Chand had suffered a heart attack and passed away on the way to the hospital. One of her sons is under isolation due to coronavirus infection while the other son Amit Chand lives in Canada. Lekha's relative kept her body at the mortuary of VS hospital awaiting Amit for the last rites. Police said that on November 13, her body was allegedly wrongly handed over to a person identified as Rajesh Begadia, whose mother's body was also kept at the same mortuary, who cremated her.

"Prima facie, it seems that Begadia took the body of Lekha and cremated her without suspecting anything. It is a bit strange that none of the family members suspected anything. We questioned two of the family members to understand what all transpired. As of today, we have registered a case and are investigating the possible negligence and people responsible for this mix up," said a senior police officer.

Last year, the VS hospital's mortuary had reported a similar case in which bodies of two women were swapped. The police had registered a case against the doctors and medical staffers on the charges of fraud and criminal conspiracy.