Patna HC seeks fresh affidavit on bodies found in river Ganga

Patna, May 17, 2021

Flagging discrepancy in the government's death toll, the Patna High Court on Monday directed the Chief Secretary and the Divisional Commissioner of Buxar to file a fresh affidavit on the bodies that were found in river Ganga last week.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Karol found inconsistency in the government's statistics of deaths during the hearing on Monday.

Karol had earlier asked both the Chief Secretary and the Divisional Commissioner to file affidavits on Saturday.

The Chief Justice has also asked the Bihar government to submit seperate data on the deaths caused by Covid-19 as well as other diseases in the state amid the pandemic.

The Buxar administration had detected 71 decomposed bodies on the banks of Ganga in Chausa last week. The Bihar government, however, alleged that the bodies had flown in from Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur, Varanasi and Allahabad districts.

Besides Buxar, over two dozen bodies were found in river Ganga near the Patna Gulabi Ghat in the Mahendru locality here as well.

IANS