ROURKELA: A 58-year-old unemployed man abandoned the body of his younger sister at Rourkela Government Hospital where she died of septicemia on Saturday morning.
Prafulla Das (58) of Madhusudanpalli slum here abandoned the body of her sister Udasini (50) after she succumbed to septicemia at the hospital. While Udasini’s body has been kept at the RGH mortuary, Das has reportedly agreed to cremate his sister after being persuaded by police.
RGH deputy superintendent Dr Rajat Ranjan Sadual said Udasini had a wound on her head which subsequently aggravated into septicemia. He said previously on a couple of occasions, Das had admitted his sister at RGH and took her home after she recovered.
On Saturday morning, he once again admitted Udasini to the RGH with maggots in her wound. Dr Sadual said after Udasini was admitted to the hospital for treatment, she and Das came out of the building unnoticed.
After Udasini died, Das reportedly placed her body behind a tree and fled. At around 10 am, a few hospital staff detected the body at a secluded place. The identity of the deceased was established from CCTV footages. Dr Sadual said RN Pali police was informed and the body preserved at the RGH morgue.
RN Pali IIC Rajendra Swain said Das was contacted but he expressed his inability to cremate the body owing to financial constraints. He said after Das was persuaded and informed of government assistance for cremation of bodies, he on Monday helped in completing the inquest.
Das agreed to take possession of the body for cremation on Tuesday. But if he does not turn up, police would dispose of the body in the presence of an executive magistrate, Swain said.