Half-burned body pulled off pyre at Chennai crematorium; staff presents ‘ashes’ to family | Chennai News – Times of India
The deception was exposed as relatives of the 68-year-old man who had died got suspicious when the ashes arrived in 40 minutes. It normally takes at least a couple of hours. The family went in to check and found the body they had cremated lying on the floor half burned while another body was on the pyre. TOI has a video of the incident, which shows the half-burned body lying unattended before people came and covered it with a piece of cloth.
Three workers have been placed under suspension.
Prabhu Jesus, GCC sanitary inspector, ward 137, said the three workers who did this were suspended immediately. “It takes at least two hours to burn a body. We can only burn four bodies a day here, and, at 4pm, there were two more bodies waiting and the workers decided to rush proceedings by pulling the body out mid-way,” said Prabhu.
After interventions by officials, police and local councillors, the body was cremated by 11pm.
N Vishwanathan, an activist from KK Nagar, said, “This has been happening here for a long time. This is the first time we are getting evidence.” He alleged the workers were trying to cut costs by saving gas. “After giving the ash, they put all the bodies together and burn them,” he alleged and demanded action on criminal charges against officials and contractors.
Manimaran A, who lives near the crematorium, alleged workers took bribes to bend the rules. “They have just replaced the staff. No legal action has been taken. What’s the guarantee that this won’t repeat,” he asked.
C Paul Princely Rajkumar, zonal officer for Kodambakkam, said the contractor complained his staff were threatened by those who had brought the second body. “Whatever the reasons, the act was wrong. We told the crematorium staff to follow a strict time gap of two hours between bookings and not book in excess of capacity,” he said.
Except for replacing the workers, the corporation has not taken any action against MHT Engineering, which maintains the crematorium. When TOI visited the ground on Friday, staff from the same firm were working.
Thiyagarajan M, proprietor of MHT Engineering, claimed his staff were coerced by the second family to remove the body on the pyre.
