Body on Roadside? Somebody Help Police!
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (PS)
Mangalore, Jul 24: The tardiness of the city police came to the fore when they were faced with the task of shifting a body found by the roadside in Kankanady here on Sunday July 24.
The deceased, later identified as Hillary of Bajal and aged around 50 years, is suspected to have died out of drunkenness. The Kadri police reached the spot immediately after they were informed by passersby, but it took them as much as one-and-a-half hours to shift the body to hospital.
Hillary collapsed on the road at around 2 pm and soon the police arrived on being informed by the locals. However, they were clueless about who to contact and did not know what arrangements to be made to shift the body. One policeman dialled 108, but was met with the response that 108 ambulance was meant only to shift patients in serious condition to hospital and not for the dead.
Nonetheless, the ambulance arrived after about one-and-a-half hours but then new problems arose. The police realised that they did not have a paper and carbon sheet to write down details. They went in search of a stationery shop to buy the materials but as it was Sunday shutters were down everywhere, but later a person managed to get the things and handed them over.
The shoddy work by the police evoked criticism from the locals who were witness to the entire episode. They said that if the police take so long to shift a body within city limits what would be the case if a similar incident happened in remote areas.
Police on the other hand said that as it was Sunday, staff were less which caused delay. Later the ASI of Kadri station arrived at the spot and made immediate arrangements. The body was finally shifted to Wenlock hospital.
Meanwhile, brother of the deceased also came to the spot and urged the police to speed up the process. Hillary's wife is a nurse in a private hospital and he also has a daughter.