Day after, only seven bodies claimed
PANCHKULA: The death toll in Friday’s violence Panchkula — in the aftermath of self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s conviction in a rape case — climbed by four to 32 on Saturday, but only seven bodies were claimed by relatives from the local civil hospital in Sector 6 by 10pm.
The toll went up as three deaths at a private hospital were accounted for, and one victim succumbed in Chandigarh.
In all, at least 12 of the dead had been identified — seven from Punjab (seven claimed), the rest from Haryana — and post-mortem of 20 had bene conducted in all at this hospital.
The cause of death in all these cases was found to be bullet injuries, said Dr Veena Singh, principal medical officer.
The hospital has constituted a special team of doctors to conduct the post-mortem.
A child, around five years old, is the youngest among the dead, and the list of 32 includes at least four women, as per data shared by the hospital authorities.
“It is disheartening to see so many people losing their lives and people not coming forward to claim some of the bodies,” said Dr Singh. Most did not have ID cards.
The hospital has space to keep only six bodies at a time, so temporary arrangement was made with ice slabs. Another doctor, who wished not to be named, said, “One of the patients told me that he had informed his neighbours that ‘eight family members are going, but don’t know how many will return’. This means they had come prepared for anything.”
The seven Punjab natives identified according to the civil hospital were Hari Singh, 45, from Talwandi Sabo; Lovepreet Singh, 25, and Bughi of Muktsar; Gurpal Singh, 32, of Patiala; Aman Fazilka; Jagroop Singh of Badbar in Barnala; and Uggar Sain of Sangrur.