Madhya Pradesh family cremates stranger after hospital exchanges bodies

In an alleged mix-up by a hospital in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city, a family cremated the body of a wrong person in place of their deceased kin, who shared the same name, police said on Tuesday.

A complaint was filed against the government-run Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital (MYH) at Sanyogitaganj police station for this alleged lapse, an official said.

Santosh Patelia, a resident of Sonkutch of neighbouring Dewas district, has lodged a complaint accusing the MYH management of gross negligence, he said.

According to the complainant, the body of his son Akash Patelia (20) was handed over to a family from Indore's Kanadia area after post-mortem, the official said.

"The body was wrapped in a cloth and the Indore-based family, which collected the same, did not remove the covering for the fear of exposure to Covid-19 at the hospital. The face of the deceased was not identified nor was it seen before the funeral," he said.

The deceased had allegedly consumed acid and died on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday while undergoing treatment at MYH, following which post-mortem was conducted, the official said.

Around the same time, an autopsy on the body of Akash Panchal (25), a kin of the Indore-based family, was also done on Monday at MYH, he said, adding that Panchal had reportedly died of electrocution.

The complainant has alleged that the hospital had made the mistake because the deceased persons shared the same first name, the official said.

"This is a medico-legal case. A complaint has been lodged at the Sanyogitaganj police station. So now the police will investigate the matter," MYH's superintendent P S Thakur said.

Meanwhile, Sanyogitaganj police station in-charge Rajiv Tripathi said no FIR has been registered in the matter as of now and the police will conduct a thorough probe.

The body of Akash Panchal was also handed over to his original family from Indore's Kanadia area, police said.