Deesa warehouse blast: Bodies of deceased handed over without identification, alleges Congress

On Wednesday morning, the 18 bodies were transported in ambulances.
“What is going on in Gujarat? Which sin is it that the Banaskantha collectorate wants to hide?… Today morning at 8.27 am, I called up Collector Mihir Patel and told him that the victims from Madhya Pradesh were reaching out to me saying that they did not want the bodies to be sent to Madhya Pradesh until they came and identified them. Despite that, the bodies were sent to MP. Whose instructions were followed? Was it from Kamalam (BJP) or Gandhinagar (the state government)?” said Mevani.

“The post-morterm has to be done by the nearest medical officer and the family is handed over the body after its identification. Why did the MP government and MP police need to intervene? The bodies should have been given to the families,” Mevani said.

Gujarat Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil, meanwhile demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the High Court in the blast case.

In a video statement, Gohil mentioned that the premises where the blast happened did not have licence to manufacture firecrackers. “Even the license of storage was rejected or not renewed. It means that everything was being done illegally. Did the administration not know this? When the factory did not get renewal permission and its application to manufacture (firecrackers) was rejected, is it not the duty of the administration to check the premises and seal the same?” Gohil said.

Mevani cited a case of an elderly woman, who was allegedly not allowed to see her dead grandson’s face. He also released a signed letter, in which one Chandrasingh Nayak alleged that he was not allowed to see the body of his daughter, Sunita, and that it was handed over to the MP government against his will. In the letter, addressed to Chief Minister of Gujarat, Nayak also sought action against officers and leaders responsible.

Meanwhile, Banaskantha Collector Mihir Patel said, “The bodies were identified (before post-morterm) even by those who worked with the deceased and are related. The relatives of the deceased and officials from Madhya Pradesh (after their arrival from the neighbouring state) also identified the bodies. And several relatives of deceased have travelled in the ambulances with the bodies,” the Collector said.

He added, “Some of the relatives were told that the identification had been done and the bodies were handed over to MP government (team of officials), led by an IG-rank officer, after verification. We have followed proper protocol. Why would an IG-level officer accept the bodies if the identification was not done properly?”