Rajesh Maru's family performs last rites on fingers, relives pain

The family of Rajesh Maru performs the last rites. Pic/Suresh Karkera

It was an emotional day for the family of Rajesh Maru, the 32-year-old who lost his life in a tragic accident at Nair Hospital due to the negligence of medical staffers, on Thursday, when they performed the last rites for his finger that had been returned by the forensic laboratory. The rites were done eighteen months after he died.

"We went through the same pain that we felt last year when we had to perform his last rites. On Thursday, when we performed the rituals, his face kept flashing in my mind. I still remember the day when we lost our son," said Shamji Maru, father of Rajesh. They performed the last rites at Walkeshwar where they cremated the fingers on a pile of wood and threw the ashes in the water as per Hindu rituals. All family members including Rajesh's mother bid him the final adieu.

Also read: Voting ink on victim's finger helps Mumbai police solve murder case

Lying at the laboratory
As mid-day reported on Thursday, Agripada police station handed over the missing fingers - the ring finger and part of the little finger - to the family on Wednesday after they ran from pillar-to-post for them for the 18 months. For months, the fingers were lying at the Kalina Forensic Laboratory after undergoing DNA analysis to confirm that they belonged to Rajesh. The laboratory was waiting for the response of the police who earlier had denied that they knew this.

'BMC must take care'
"We had been going to the police station and hospital to know about the body parts and it took them as many as 18 months to hand them over to us. It was really an emotional moment for us, as we had to go through the same pain again. I just hope, in future, the BMC takes proper care and no one's life ends like his," said Harish Solanki, brother-in-law of Rajesh.

In January 2018, Maru, a garment merchant, was visiting a relative who was to undergo an MRI scan in Nair Hospital. As soon as he entered the room with an oxygen cylinder in his hand, the cylinder and he were pulled in by the magnetic field of the MRI machine which was four feet away, and got stuck in it. He died after excessive inhalation of gas when the cylinder's knob broke open. In this accident, one of his fingers and another's part got stuck under the cylinder and remained at the laboratory for two days until the lab technician removed it. Later, it was sent to the Kalina Forensic Laboratory for DNA analysis.

Also read: Mumbai: Police returns Rajesh Maru's fingers which were stuck in MRI machine

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