Shocking! Dead bodies vanish into thin air

In a curious case of missing, it appears that a whopping 31,211 unidentified bodies are found only on paper, not in the morgues in government hospitals

​Hyderabad: Thousands of unidentified dead bodies are either missing or only found on papers as claimed by a report presented by the Satya Harishchandra Foundation. With strong references from enclosed documents to previously published articles, the report claims to prove the resistance enforced by the State government and government general hospitals against the attempts of the organisation in identifying the dead bodies to trace them back to their present bloodline and conducting cremation ceremony.

In the report addressed to the Chief Minister of Telangana, a copy of which is available with our bureau, Satya Harishchandra Foundation (SHF) pulls out records which attempt to disclose cases involving death of 31,211 unidentified persons.

In addition to this, the report states with strong enclosed government documents which proves bad coordination of four major departments - Revenue, Home, Medical and Municipal Administration - as well as negligence of Osmania and Gandhi Hospitals in maintaining records of the dead and unclaimed bodies. Various attempts to claim bodies by the organisation to trace back to their respective relatives and cremating have failed either because of lack of records or the bodies themselves.

Despite seeking permissions from the Commissioner of Police and District Collectors of various areas in order to photograph and claim responsibility of identification of unclaimed dead bodies, the organisation is still restricted from entering the mortuaries of Osmania and Gandhi hospitals, let alone taking photographs, the report says.

To add to the problems, most of the records of dead bodies could be traced back their bloodline, but bodies are either missing or replaced with old decayed bodies. K Rajeshwar Rao, founder and general secretary, Satya Harishchandra Foundation, says that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) was obligated to forward the disposal letters of unclaimed bodies within 72 hours for final rites.

To the organisation’s surprise, the disposal letters were forwarded one or two months after which bodies are highly decomposed or in rotten condition.

“It becomes very difficult for us to examine the bodies if they are presented in such a state. Most of the bodies are missing which clearly shows how they are used for profitable purposes. This is nothing but appreciating murders as the person once dead without any identity papers on himself is labelled as ‘unclaimed’ or ‘unknown’,” he says.

There have been allegations on the foundation by the Chief Medical Officers of Health on the basis of the report given by forensic doctors in 2011 in response to the organisation’s plea saying the foundation is creating hardship for unknown reason claiming that the foundation runs commercially.

Later in 2012, the foundation fought back claiming its existence as a non-profitable NGO devoted only for service. There have still been attempts to prove the foundation to be a fraud but none has succeeded so far.

Serious allegations are made against the Health and Sanitation department of the GHMC as the foundation is facing resistance from the department. But unfortunately, attempts made by our bureau to question the department also proved futile.

By: Sasidhar Kocharlakota