Bhopal, October 30: In an extremely sensitive case, the body of a Christian person was cremated after it was 'mistakenly' handed over to a Hindu family. The incident took place at the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC).

Relatives of Kunjumon K P, a 57-year-old who suffered a heart attack and died on Saturday evening, protested outside the mortuary to get an answer as to why his body was handed over to the wrong family. The hospital refused to give an explanation for the faux pas.

It was only after the persistent demand of Kunjumon K P's relatives that the hospital acknowledged its mistake. The family and relatives, shocked at the disclosure, lodged a complaint at the Nishatpura police station.

When the Kunjumon K P 's family and relatives on Monday contacted the Hindu family which had been wrongly handed over Kunjumon's body, they got to know that his body had been cremated on Sunday itself.

According to a report in The Times of India, the tragic mistake took place after the body of Kunjumon was handed over to the family of one Khushilal, who had died on the same day as Kunjumon. Khushilal's family said that they had not checked his face when they took the dead body as Khushilal had died due to tuberculosis and they feared that uncovering his body would would further spoil the corpse.

Khushilal's family added that they collected the body as per the receipt that they were given by the hospital and cremated the body after collecting it from the hospital. Kunjumon's son said that his father was a devout Christian who got cremated due to the hospital's negligence and has lodged a case against the hospital and Khushilal's son. However, Khushilal's family refused to collect the other body, claiming that they cremated the right body and protested against the hospital outside the mortuary.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 30, 2018 06:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).