After Manchanda case: Hry police revise SOP for unidentified bodies

Gurugram: Haryana Police has issued a new standard operating procedure (SOP) for handling recovered bodies, particularly unidentified ones, following apparent lapses by Gurugram police in the case of Delhi-based real estate executive Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, whose body was cremated as unclaimed on September 14, officials said on Thursday

Gurugram: Haryana Police has issued a new standard operating procedure (SOP) for handling recovered bodies, particularly unidentified ones, following apparent lapses by Gurugram police in the case of Delhi-based real estate executive Yuvraj Singh Manchanda, whose body was cremated as unclaimed on September 14, officials said on Thursday.

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Under the new SOP, it will be mandatory for the station house officer concerned to reach the spot and supervise the investigation even when an unidentified body is recovered, a senior Gurugram police official said. HT has seen a copy of the order.

Meanwhile, inspector Rajesh Bagri, SHO of Badshahpur police station, where Manchanda’s body was recovered, was suspended on Wednesday. A senior Gurugram police official confirmed the action and said Bagri had been attached to the police lines.

“Departmental proceedings for the lapses were already recommended against him and sub-inspector Seema, who was posted in the control room. Bagri is the second official suspended in the case after assistant sub-inspector Sahun Khan, the investigating officer,” he said.

Bagri’s suspension came as Gurugram police drew flak from the Supreme Court during a hearing on Monday, when it asked what action had been taken against erring officials.

A mobile forensics team will also have to reach the spot immediately, as in murder cases, to analyse the scene and collect evidence.

The SOP also changes the procedure for preserving forensic material. Viscera was earlier preserved during autopsies mainly when foul play was suspected or the cause of death remained unclear. Following the Manchanda case, it will now be mandatory to preserve viscera in cases involving bodies subsequently cremated as unclaimed. Belongings of such bodies will also have to be preserved. DNA samples will now have to be collected and preserved in a manner that allows them to be analysed later.

“The best is to preserve a part of bone in cases of decomposed and unidentified bodies. Blood sample was preserved from Manchanda’s body by the doctor during autopsy,” an official said.

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The police headquarters has also expanded a system introduced by Gurugram police after Manchanda’s body was recovered. The assistant commissioner of police (headquarters) in Gurugram was made special nodal officer for unidentified-body recoveries reported to the police control room, to ensure information was relayed to all stakeholders. The same arrangement has now been introduced across all districts.

Gurugram police are also working on an informal information-sharing mechanism with Delhi counterparts. An officer posted at the PCR would be added to a Delhi Police control-room group to ensure photographs and information about recovered bodies could be shared instantly.

Manchanda, a Sarita Vihar resident, went missing after travelling to Gurugram from Lajpat Market on September 6. His family filed a missing complaint on September 11. His highly decomposed body was recovered from a plot filled with sewage water on September 10 and cremated as unclaimed on September 14. Details were uploaded on the CCTNS database the same day, but no details or photographs were uploaded on ZIPNET until September 16, when Manchanda’s family learned he had been murdered. Delhi police have arrested Manchanda’s former colleague Anya Vats and her partner Saiyam Sachdeva for the murder.