Dharmasthala panchayat buried Kerala man’s body as ‘unclaimed’ despite family’s claim

Dharmasthala 

The documents accessed by blrpost.com reveal that the body of Shyam (47) was buried by the Dharmasthala Panchayat, treating it as an unclaimed body despite the family’s claim over the mortal remains and their request for handover from the Dharmasthala police. The body was found at 5:45 a.m.

On September 18, 2024, Chandrashekhar Hegde (45) of the Santhana Ghatta (bathing point) office filed a complaint at the Dharmasthala Police Station stating that a body was found floating in the waters of the Netravati River at 5:45 a.m. The complainant suspected that a man aged between 45 and 50 may have died by suicide by jumping into the river or slipped into the water while bathing and drowned. Based on his complaint, the police recovered the body and sent it to K.S. Hegde Hospital, Deralakatte, for a postmortem examination. The hospital is located about 75 km away from the bathing point. 

The body was kept in the cold storage unit of the hospital’s mortuary for three days. On September 21, 2024, the hospital conducted the autopsy. On the same day, the Dharmasthala police wrote to the Dharmasthala Panchayat stating that “as no one claimed the body, the panchayat has to make necessary arrangements to bury the remains.”

Interestingly, on the same day (September 21), the police sent a second letter to the panchayat instructing it not to act on the first letter and to return the body. The letter stated, “the deceased has been identified as Shyam in the afternoon hours by the family members. He is a resident of Chennikere Colony in Kasaragod taluk, Kerala. The body has been released to the family; hence the mortal remains must be handed over.”

However, the bills generated and attached to the same case file (obtained through RTI) show that four workers — Yogeesh, Shyama, Baby, and Harish — buried the body. They received ₹1,000 each for the work. The particulars indicate that the payment was made for burying an unclaimed body. 

Blrpost.com was unable to contact the family members. This raises suspicion as to why the body was buried in haste by the panchayat, even after the police had instructed otherwise.