KOLKATA: More than 48 hours after the
death of former IAF personnel
Shyamal Chatterjee (83) at his Baguiati home, cops are yet to find any relative who can claim his body. The body has been lying at the RG Kar Hospital morgue, following the post-mortem on Tuesday.
With the elder son, Chandu Chatterjee, in prison on the charge of murder, officers at the Baguiati police station contacted Shyamal's younger son, Barish, who lived in the US and Chandu's wife, Snigdha, who lived in Bangaluru with their son. Both, however, allegedly refused to come down to Kolkata at this moment.
"We are in a fix. We generally hand over the body to the deceased person's relatives after the post-mortem. But in this case, the closest relative, his elder son, is in jail and other relatives are refusing to claim the body. We have got in touch with the elderly man's in-laws, who live in Madhyamgram, but even they have refused to turn up," said an officer.
TOI had also called Snigdha and Barish on their cellphones and WhatsApp numbers respectively. Both of them disconnected after learning the call was from Kolkata and it was regarding the death of the 83-year-old.
"We tried to convince both of them to claim the body but they seemed unwilling to co-operate. While Barish claimed he was too busy with work, Snigdha was initially worried about her husband being arrested. On learning that he has been booked for murder, she said she would not like to be involved with the incident," said Krishnendu Chatterjee, Shyamal's nephew, who lives a floor above the former Air Force personnel's 2,200sqft flat.
With no close relative coming forward, cops have asked Krishnendu and his wife, Sabita, to do the needful.
"We faced a similar situation when kakima (Shyamal's wife) died last year. We had to keep the body at Peace Haven for three days, following which the sons came and conducted the cremation. But at least at that time, kaku (Shyamal Chatterjee) was there to claim the body," said Krishnendu, who said he was still in two minds whether to claim the body and conduct the last rites or wait for a few more days for his son and daughter-in-law to arrive.
Read this story in Bengali