Bihar: Body dragged to hospital with rope for autopsy, police officer suspended

Patna, July 30: A sub-inspector (SI) of police in Bihar's Begusarai district was suspended on Saturday after a video went viral in which the body of a man was seen dragged by a rope to the hospital for post-mortem, triggering an outrage, officials said.

The body of an unidentified person was found on the roadside in Nipania village in Lakho police post area on Wednesday, they said.

''Anil Kumar Singh, the sub-inspector, was asked to probe the matter and also take the body for post-mortem examination. He engaged two sanitation workers who dragged the body with a rope while taking it to Begusarai Sadar Hospital for the postmortem,'' Superintendent of Police Yogendra Kumar said.

This is an inhuman act and a police officer is not supposed to allow handling of a body in that manner, Kumar said, adding that Singh was suspended. The whole episode was caught on camera and the video, showing the body being dragged by a rope tied to the legs, went viral on social media, triggering an outrage, police said.

It raised questions about the sensitivity of the police, they said.

The investigation also revealed that even during the shifting of the body to the mortuary, it was pulled with the rope tied to the legs, they added.