Patna: A couple was moving around the roads in Samastipur district of Bihar collecting money to pay bribes to get the body of their son from a mortuary. The mortuary staff demanded Rs 50,000 from the couple for handing over the body. The couple begged for an entire day under the scorching heat on Wednesday. Beneath their feet was the asphalt road which turned into a melting pot. Samastipur civil surgeon Dr S K Chaudhary confirmed the incident. He came to know that an official had demanded Rs 50,000 from the parents of a deceased youth for releasing his body, which is against humanity.
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He also said that he had initiated an inquiry into the case and would take action against the official concerned. Mahesh Thakur and his wife are the residents of Kasbe Ahar village under Tajpur police station. Their mentally challenged son had gone missing since May 25 this year. His body, found in an area under Musrigharari police station on June 7, was sent for post-mortem. The local police contacted Mahesh Thakur, since he had lodged a missing person report. They asked Thakur to identify the body. Nonetheless, when Thakur reached the mortuary, the employees there refused to show the body to him. As he stuck to his guns, the officials allowed him to identify the body.
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Just as Thakur identified the body as that of his son, the mortuary staff demanded Rs 50,000 to hand it over to him. Thakur said that as he could not make his both ends meet, he would not be able to pay that amount, but his pleadings fell on deaf ears. The couple then began to beg. As a video clipping of the incident went viral on social media, Dr Choudhary intervened and handed over the body to the couples.
