NEW DELHI May 27: It was a windfall for the family members of Omkar Gadulia, who they believed was dead and “cremated” but returned to his home in Rajsamand in Rajasthan a week later.
The 40-year old man, said to be liquor addict, had gone to Udaipur on May 11 without informing his family. Following some liver pain, he was admitted in the state-run RK hospital at Udaipur while his family kept looking for him in Rajsamand.
The initial goof up was by the authorities of the RK hospital who had declared as “unidentified” the body of one Goverdhan Prajapat who was admitted in the hospital the same day Omkar got himself admitted. Goverdhan was taken to the hospital in ambulance and his three young children were sent to a government welfare centre. The children had no knowledge that their father died during treatment.
“We had got a letter from the hospital authorities that a body was lying unclaimed at the mortuary for three days. We then circulated photographs of the deceased man on various fronts to identify the body,” Kankroli police station official Yogendra Vyas said.
He said over a dozen people came to the hospital on May 15 to identify the body. Omkar’s family members “identified” the body and the police were informed about it. The family members gave in writing to hand over the body to them without conducting any post-mortem.
The family members wrongly identified the body to be that of Omkar Gadulia going by a similar scar on his right hand and appearance, and the police handed over the body without conducting any post-mortem and DNA test.
“The body was identified by the family members. DNA testing and post-mortem by a medical board is conducted only when the body is unidentified following which the body is usually handed over to municipality for cremation,” Vyas said.
The body was taken away and the funeral performed on May 15.
However, Omkar Gadulia returned home on May 23 and was shocked to learn that he was believed dead. Later, the police launched an investigation and identified the body which Gadulia’s family had cremated as that of Goverdhan Prajapat.
“Police were nowhere at fault in this case. The body was declared unidentified by the hospital authorities,” Vyas said. The hospital authorities admitted that the whole incident was a goof-up on part of the nursing and mortuary staff.
“There was a huge patient load. The patient was admitted to the hospital through 108 ambulance service. The incident took place due to lack of coordination between the nursing and mortuary staff. Appropriate action will be taken in the matter,” Principal Medical Officer of RK Hospital, Lalit Purohit said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
