The hospice was indulging in illegal trade of human remains. They used to kill the elders for their bones, organs.
Chennai: The Madras high court has ordered notice to the CBI on a Public Interest Litigation seeking to transfer from the state police to the CBI the investigation into the case relating to St.Joseph Hospice at Paleshwaram in Kancheepuram district.
The First Bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose, before whom the PIL filed by R.Kalayanaraman, claiming to be a BJP leader, came up for hearing, adjourned it to April 24. The Additional advocate general took the notice for State Home Secretary and DGP.
According to petitioner, he learnt from newspaper reports that various complaints were raised that in the name of hospice, elders were brought to the hospice, sometimes by force and deceit, from different places, tortured and killed. When inmates died, they were not cremated or buried as per standard and established practices, but the bodies were shoved into rectangular chambers fixed in the walls.
The hospice did not have record of inmates as required by law. The hospice was indulging in illegal trade of human remains in the form of bones and bone marrow or in any other modified form of human remains in the international market. The information disseminated was that they kill the elders for their bones and internal organs. They also segregate the bones and sell it to foreign countries where there was a big demand for human remains in modified form like bones, bone marrow etc, he alleged.
He said this illegal activity came to light on February 20 when an old woman and an old man were found travelling in a tempo van along with the dead body of another old man and vegetable bags. A passerby, who heard the woman wailing in the tempo, stopped and secured the vehicle and discovered and rescued the two elders leading to the exposure of such a big human remains sale scandal.
The elders clearly stated that they were abducted by the employees of the hospice. Despite the statement of the victims, the state police had registered a case as a misdemeanour and the driver alone was cited as an accused even after the furore. No action was taken against the authorities of the hospice, which was having its branches in southern districts and in other states. The health authorities also stated that there was no existing licence for the hospice. This involves larger investigation and the state investigating authorities with their limited scope cannot investigate matters involving international ramifications and in the best interest of protecting state’s honour for fair investigation, the state government has to hand over the case to the CBI, he added.
