New Delhi - Authorities found nearly 100 human skulls and
skeletal remains in a dried-up pond in India's northern city of
Aligarh, news reports said Monday.
The remains were spotted three days ago by children playing
near the pond adjacent to a mortuary, as the water started drying
up in the summer heat.
Ninety-eight skulls and some skeletons were subsequently recovered
by the authorities in Aligarh, situated 120 kilometres south-east of
national capital New Delhi.
According to the Indian Express newspaper, an investigation by
doctors revealed that there were suture marks on the skulls that
indicated the bodies had gone for post-mortem since such marks were
usually made during the procedure.
The remains likely belonged to bodies of unclaimed corpses brought
to the mortuary, but the police launched an investigation, other
media outlets reported.
Administration officers and locals said the remains could be those
of unidentified people killed in accidents and road crashes.
The police had failed to do the last rites properly since
money allotted for the purpose was not enough, they said.
Senior police officer Ashim Arun told the Times of India daily
that although there were skulls which confirmed the bodies had
undergone autopsy, there were some which appeared completely intact
with no marks of sutures on them.
'Hence, we decided to get it probed through experts and formed two
teams comprising police and forensic experts to establish the time
when the victims died and if the recovered skulls had undergone
autopsy,' Arun told the Times.
He said the reports by the two teams were expected to be received
over the next few days.
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