78 viscera samples, 47 bones and other body parts found at Unnao

Lucknow Range DIG R K Chaturvedi, who visited the spot on the directions of DGP A K Gupta, said 78 viscera samples were found in the room. Viscera samples and other body parts were store in cases where either the cause of death was not clear or the body parts recovered by police were not identifiable.

“As many as 58 of these samples have labels pasted on them and their relevant records will be easily located. The oldest one of the samples is from 1980 while the latest is from 2007,” Chaturvedi said.

He added that 47 bags containing bones and other body parts have also been recovered. The oldest among these is from 1984 and the latest one from 2007. “A committee, including the officers of district administration, police, health and forensics, has been formed to find out how many of these samples have been examined and their details,” said Chaturvedi. He added that the samples and bones and other preserved body parts will be disposed off according to laid down procedure after examination of relevant records and proper verification.

“A circular was issued in 2010 to dispose off such preserved body parts and samples in every district but it appears the same was done with those collected only after 2010. Those stored prior to it remained unnoticed,” said the DIG.

The recovery of the skeletons has sent the Uttar Pradesh Police into tizzy as the matter came to light barely a fortnight after around 100 bodies were found from the Ganga in Unnao.

The skeletons were kept in sacks, scattered in the locked room of the Reserve Police Lines located opposite the police quarters and Mahila police station. The matter came to light when some painters, working at the Reserve Police Lines, peeped into the room through an open window and saw human remains piled up. They alerted the police.

No one initially dared to enter the room that emanated unbearable stench. It was only with the help of some class IV civic employees — arranged by the Unnao Police — that investigators entered the room and the remains were taken to the district hospital mortuary.

Shocking visuals of the skeletons went viral in the media as the matter came to the fore hardly within a fortnight of recovery of 104 bodies near Pariyar ghat in Safipur in the district. The decaying remains were perhaps of those who were given river burials upstream and the bodies seemed to have accumulated over months, police said.

The matter soon acquired a political hue. “First bodies were recovered from Ganga and now skeletons have been found in police lines. The state government, which has no answer, is giving into baseless statement,” BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak alleged.

“The government must clarify how such a thing happened. It should ensure that such incidents do not occur in future,” Congress leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh said.     With PTI inputs