After Bihar, UP, bodies found floating in MP

In a replay of the horrific sight of immersion of bodies in the Ganga river in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, two corpses were found floating in a water body in a village in Madhya Pradesh, sending the local administration into a tizzy.

Two bodies were found floating in Runj river, a tributary of Ken, near Nandanpur village in Panna district on Tuesday evening. The police was alerted to the incident on Wednesday.

This prompted Panna district collector Sanjay Kumar Mishra and local superintendent of police Dharmaraj Meena to rush to the spot to probe the incident.

“The two bodies were of locals. One of them died of cancer and the other died due to old age. The families of the two deceased had immersed the bodies in the river, instead of cremating them, following an age-old practice prevalent in the area. As per the tradition, the locals immerse the bodies of people who die of cancer. Similarly, bodies of the deceased who have white spots are also thrown into the river, instead of cremating them”, Mr Mishra said.

He, however, dismissed the “rumours” making round the area that 5-6 bodies were found floating in the river.

“We have searched around a 2 km area in the river. No other bodies were found”, he added. The two bodies were fished out of the water and buried, he said.

The SP said people in the village were sensitized against immersion of the bodies and asked to cremate them properly. Sources said police began a probe if there was any ulterior motive in the incident.

A couple of days ago, scores of bodies were found floating in river Ganga in Buxar district of Bihar and Ghaziabad district in Uttar Pradesh, sparking rumours that the corpses might be those of Covid victims.