Patna: CM Nitish Kumar was accorded a red carpet welcome at Kulharia Complex on Ashok Rajpath, one km away from Patna Medical College Hospital on Thursday.
He had gone to place floral wreaths on the body of the great mathematician Bashistna Narain Singh (73) who died earlier at the hospital. Younger brother of the mathematician Dharmnath and other relatives were denied ambulance vehicle (hearse) to carry the body which was literally thrown near the Blood Bank.
His brother alleged the private ambulance operators sought Rs 5000 from him. After three hours, following intervention of former MLC Harendra Pratap and former MP Pappu Yadav and local news channels, an ambulance was provided.
Dr Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, PMCH superintendent said, "Doctors were having option of autopsy of the body, hence the delay. We could have arranged series of ambulances for him.” Principal secretary of health, Sanjay Kumar said the mathematics genius was brought dead to hospital this morning.
When the CM arrived, District Magistrate and senior SP also came to Singh's residence and laid a red carpet welcome for the cm to facilitate his movement to the place where Singh’s body was put on the hearse. Singh was suffering from Schizophrenia.
Singh, son of a police constable of Basantpur village in Bhojpur district, 60 kms from here was a genius by birth. He matriculated from Netarhat public school and topped the state board examinations followed by another top distinction in higher secondary school examination.
At Patna Science College, where he was admitted, admission rules had to be changed for him and he was directly allowed to appear at the BSc examination by then principal N S Nagnedra Nath, who taught film-star turned politician, Shatrughan Sinha also.
He received a Ph D in reproducing kernels and operators with a cycle vector from University of California. He worked at NADSA and then returned to India as teacher at IIT, Kanpur. He worked at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata too.
He developed mental sickness within a year of his marriage with a doctor daughter of an army officer. In February,1993 he was found lying unattended at a roadside dhaba near his in-laws house at Doriganj in Chapra.
He was brought to his native place and when news of Singh’s plight appeared in national newspapers, then union human resources development minister Arjun Singh arranged his admission in NIMHAS, Bangalore with six of his relatives as attendants, paid for railway tickets. He had sent an addl secy of HRD to the village.
