Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The body of a man killed in a road accident in the Ratnagiri area under Piplani police station was identified three days after the incident, prompting the family of the deceased to allege police negligence.
Despite the scooter being registered at their address, the police neither identified the body on time nor informed them, they claimed.
According to Satish, the son of deceased Ram Bahadur, the scooter’s storage compartment (dicky) contained his father’s Aadhaar card and mobile phone.
“Had the police checked the vehicle properly, the body could have been identified and we could have been informed earlier,” he said, adding that a timely investigation could have prevented the body from decomposing in the mortuary.
Ram Bahadur, a resident of Jheel Nagar under Ayodhya Nagar police station, worked as a chef at a restaurant in the Ratnagiri area. Around 1.30 am on October 19, he was returning home on his scooter when a speeding motorcycle coming from the opposite direction hit him.
Ram Bahadur sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
For his family, however, Satish went missing after leaving the restaurant on the night of October 19. “The family searched everywhere for him for three days. We finally received information from the police about his death on October 22,” he added.
The investigating officer, Sub Inspector Hari Krishna Bairagi, claimed that the scooter’s key was missing, so the police couldn’t open the dicky, which delayed identification.
Police said they traced the family through the scooter’s registration number. However, as the vehicle’s ownership changed three times, the process involved verifying details from three different parties.
Piplani police station in-charge Chandrika Yadav said that no identification documents were found at the spot. Police showed the deceased’s photo in nearby areas to confirm his identity, he added.
