Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was accorded a red carpet welcome at Kulharia Complex on Ashok Rajpath, one km 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 demanded Rs 5,000 from him. After nearly three hours, following intervention of former MLC Harendra Pratap and former MP Pappu Yadav, 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 a series of ambulances for him." Principal secretary of health Sanjay Kumar said, "The mathematics genius was brought dead at the hospital this morning."
When the chief minister arrived, district magistrate and senior SP also came to Singh's residence and laid a red carpet welcome for the chief minister to facilitate his movement to the place where Singh's body was put on the hearse. Singh was suffering from Schizophrenia.
He received Ph D in reprodicing 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 Indian Statstical Institute, Kolkatta too.
