Three held for breaking into Noida morgue, shooting obscene video

A video clip showed a person in the deep freezer room of the Sector 94 postmortem facility in a compromising position with a woman.

A video surfaced on social media on Thursday, pointing to a security breach at the postmortem house in Noida’s Sector 94, said senior police officers, adding that three people have been arrested in connection with the incident.

The incident , however, sparked concerns about the potential tampering of evidence, as the postmortem house receives five to seven corpses daily, including those related to criminal cases, said police. (HT Photo)

Police said the six-minute video clip showed a person in the deep freezer room of the Sector 94 postmortem facility in a compromising position with a woman while another man filmed the act on his phone.

HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

Police later said one of the men in the purported footage is a sweeper contracted by the health department of Gautam Budh Nagar. Two others have been identified as Bhanu Pratap from Etah, and Praveen Kumar from Jewar, said police.

The arrested suspect was identified as Sher Singh of Amroha, a contractual employee of the health department. After the video came to the fore, and following a preliminary investigation, Sher Singh’s employment was terminated with immediate effect, informed the health department on Thursday.

Health department officials said a security personnel was deputed on duty at the facility at night, and yet the breach happened, which is a matter for investigation.

“We had already deployed a security guard at the facility and yet, the security breach happened. A probe is on to ascertain where the guard was at the time of incident and how three people gained entry to the premises. To ensure that such incidents are averted and security is maintained in the future, we will be demanding more security personnel for manning the facility, besides installation of CCTV cameras,” said chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Sunil Sharma.

The incident , however, sparked concerns about the potential tampering of evidence, as the postmortem house receives five to seven corpses daily, including those related to criminal cases, said police. The presence of unauthorised individuals and the lack of security measures have raised questions about the facility’s ability to maintain the integrity of such evidence.

Health department officials said sweepers remain present at the facility during the day while one security guard is present at night. Doctors and pharmacists remain deputed on rotation, at the time of autopsies, said officials.

“A complaint was received regarding the video and a three-member committee -- comprising deputy CMO Dr RP Singh, deputy CMO Dr Jaislal Singh, forensic expert Dr Rishabh Kumar Singh, and I -- has been constituted to investigate the matter at the Sector 39 district hospital,” Sharma said.

“A case has been registered under Section 296 (obscene act in a public place) against Singh while two others have been booked under section 67 and 67A of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,” said Bhupendra Singh, SHO, 126 police station.

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