A family in Kolkata has alleged that they were asked to pay Rs 51,000 by the hospital staff to see the body of a relative who died due to the COVID-19.

Sagar Gupta, son of Hari Gupta who passed away due to the deadly virus on August 8 has alleged that the private hospital did not even inform the family about the death for many hours.

‘On Sunday afternoon, we received a call from the hospital saying that my father had passed away at 1 am. When we questioned why we were not informed about it, the hospital officials said that they did not have our contact information,’ Sagar said.

When the family reached the hospital, they were informed that the body had been sent for cremation to Shibpur cremation ground. The family was then asked to pay Rs 51,000 to see the remains of their deceased relative.

After much argument, the ‘charges’ were negotiated and reduced to Rs 31,000. However, the family later decided to inform the police.

‘The hospital officials who were cremating the body told the police to go back and ask higher authorities to speak to them,’ the family said.

The family members of the deceased tried to record the entire incident on video, however, their phones were taken away.

It was only after media pressure that the cremation authorities took only Rs 2,500, which is the deposit amount for showing the body, the family said.

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