Bhubaneswar, Sept 11: The Commissionerate Police (CP) is yet to establish the identity of 120 bodies found in Bhubaneswar.
The identity of 120 bodies found under the jurisdiction of CP between 2017 and July 2023 is yet to be established, out of which 15 are murder cases.
The CP has not taken any significant steps and its efforts are just limited to uploading details of the body and a postcard-size photo on the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS).
The CCTNS is an online platform where police maintain their crime and criminal data and provides citizens access to police services online and in a hassle-free manner.
It is the first duty of police to send an unidentified body to a hospital for post-mortem. There a professional photographer takes pictures of the body, especially if the body has any specific identity mark including a tattoo. After the post-mortem, police keep nail, hair, and blood samples for DNA tests. Besides, it is mandatory to keep an unidentified body for 96 hours after autopsy to upload the photo on CCTNS.
If someone is missing and a complaint has been lodged in this regard at any police station with the uploading of his/her photo, the CCTNS will identify it easily.
After 96 hours, police perform the last rites of the body in the presence of senior officials if fail to establish the identity.
Earlier, police had to bear all the expenses for the last rites of unidentified bodies. Now, the state government is providing Rs 3,000 for this under the Harischandra Sahayata Yojana since 2018.
