No proper record of donated bodies found during Dera search

Security forces cordoned off the road leading to the Dera headquarters in Sirsa on Friday. Jaipal Singh

A day after the Haryana government announced a probe to find whether “legal formalities” were followed by the Dera Sacha Sauda while organising the donation of 14 cadavers from among its followers to a private medical institute in Lucknow this year, state officials, during the search of the dera on Saturday, found no proper records of the same.

Deputy Director of Haryana government’s public relations department, Satish Mehra, said now the health department would take action in this regard. According to the dera management, followers used to donate bodies of their kin to the dera as per their will. “These bodies were sent to different medical colleges of the country after following due process,” claimed the dera mouthpiece Sach Kahoon on Friday. However, during the search of the dera Saturday, the officials did not find record of all bodies.

The officials Saturday also seized a skin bank of the dera being run without a licence from the government. The skin bank was set up to conduct surgeries in the dera hospital. “We have also detected irregularities regarding the implementation of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act,” Mehra added. The officials have hinted the search operation of the dera may be concluded on Sunday.