An elderly widow ran from one police station to another for four days, pleading with officers to find her 38-year-old son, who left home to visit her maternal aunt on October 6 but did not return. Feeling helpless, she finally approached DSP (City-1) Harsimrat Singh Bal on October 9, and a DDR (daily diary register) was finally registered with the promise of further action. The woman's fanatic search for her son, however, ended when the family received a call from the Mohali Phase 11 police station, informing Mahavir Rana had died in a road accident and his body was kept at the mortuary of the Civil Hospital in Phase 6. “We immediately visited the hospital. Hospital staff revealed that the body had been there since October 6 and that they informed the police the very night after retrieving the deceased’s phone and address,” the victim's uncle, Ashu Rawat, said. Rawat said, “Mahavir Rana, a resident of Punjab Colony near Ramgarh, worked as a property evaluator. On October 6, he left home around 9:20 pm to meet his maternal aunt and uncle in Sohana. However, by 9.56 pm, when his phone was found to be switched off, the family immediately started searching for him and reached the Sohana police station, but the police did not take them seriously and told them to come the next day.” “On October 7, when the family again went to the Sohana police station, a duty official sent them to ASI Talwinder Singh. The ASI sent them to the Ramgarh police station, saying it was not under his jurisdiction. Feeling helpless, the family later approached the DSP City-1 on October 9.” “As per the hospital records, the Phase 11 police station had been notified about the body by 9.40 pm on October 6, but no one from the police informed the family. For four days, Mahavir's mother ran from one police station to another, unaware the body of her son was lying unidentified in the morgue,” Ashu Rawat said Besides, his mother, Mahavir, is survived by a sister and an ailing brother. The family alleged that the police were trying to “dismiss the case as a pothole-related accident”, while they believed it to be “a clear hit-and-run case”. “We will not take possession of the body until an FIR is registered,” said Rawat, adding, "We will also file a complaint against the Mohali Municipal Corporation and write to the Punjab Governor and Chief Minister, seeking justice.” The family urged senior police officers to conduct a thorough investigation into the police’s inaction. "If we were informed by the police, we would not have run from pillar to post for four days. This is not just negligence, it's a mistake as grave as murder,” Rawat rued. When contacted, the DSP City-1 said, "The standard procedure for unidentified bodies is to keep them for 72 hours. However, it will be investigated thoroughly to look if any negligence has occurred to ensure justice for the family and to prevent such lapses in the future.”
