Ludhiana, Oct 1 (IANS) The body of a 40-year-old man of this Punjab district will have to wait for some more time for its last rites as a leading private hospital in this industrial city Wednesday refused to let the bereaved family conduct funeral till it paid pending bills of Rs.218,000.
The Christian Medical College (CMC) here is demanding the money from the family of Najjar Singh, who died in the hospital Monday.
In fact, the CMC officials initially even refused to hand over the body to the Punjab police, which wanted it for post-mortem examination to complete investigations leading to his death.
The CMC allowed the body to be taken for post-mortem only on the condition that it would be delivered back to it. The body was deposited back to the CMC after the autopsy.
The hospital refused to entertain pleas of the family of the deceased and the village panchayat to hand over the body for the last rites.
Singh was injured in a group clash in his village, Sahnewal, 20 km from here, July this year. He was under treatment in the hospital and the bills kept piling up.
The officials Wednesday started negotiating with the family of the deceased, asking them to pay at least Rs.180,000 of the pending bills to take the body. They agreed that the remaining amount could be paid later.