Ghaziabad: As a family searched for a missing 69-year-old man, police at a station barely 13km away cremated his body as “unidentified” despite having his photograph and details.Purshottam Yadav, a Lal Kuan resident who had gone missing after stepping out for a walk on Sept 29, had died following a road accident. His family alleged that cops from Vijay Nagar police station cremated his body a few days later, turning a blind eye to information shared by Wave City police station about him. This cost the family a chance to even identify the body and perform his last rites.When Yadav did not return home, his son Varun and daughter Shalini approached Wave City police station and lodged a missing person’s report. They told police their father suffered from mental health issues and would often forget his address or the way home.Three days later – on Oct 2 – Yadav was hit by an unidentified vehicle near NH-9 in Vijay Nagar. He was taken to a nearby hospital and police were informed. He succumbed to his injuries on Oct 6.The next day, cops from Vijay Nagar police station prepared a panchnama, recorded him as “unidentified” and sent his body to the mortuary. It was kept there for three days before being cremated on Oct 10.Yadav’s family alleged that cops from Wave City police station had been searching for him across eight districts and had even shared a missing person’s notice carrying his photograph with nearby police stations. A notice with his details and photograph was also pasted on Vijay Nagar station’s notice board and wall on Oct 6, they said.Despite this, the body was cremated without being matched with the missing person report. They said the two stations failed to coordinate even though they were only 13km apart.The family learnt of Yadav’s cremation on Oct 14. ACP (Wave City) Priyashri Pal said a team from Vijay Nagar police station came to Wave City that day and put up a notice containing details of the deceased. It was then that cops identified him and contacted the family, who recognised their father from his clothes and other belongings.In their complaint, the siblings alleged that police negligence had deprived them of their right to perform their father’s last rites. They demanded strict action against those responsible.The case comes months after that of Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, whose body was recovered in Gurgaon on Sept 10 and cremated four days later, even before its details and photographs were uploaded by police on ZIPNET. A Delhi court criticised the handling of the body, describing the Gurgaon police investigation as “botched up” and flagging “clear negligence” and failure to follow standard operating procedures. The Haryana DGP also acknowledged “certain lapses” in the case.On Thursday, Varun and Shalini met additional CP (headquarters) Keshav Chaudhary. He told TOI that he had assigned an inquiry to ACP (Kavi Nagar) Abhay Rajendra Daga. The report is expected within three days, following which action will be taken.
