Sunday, January 15 2006 14:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jajpur (Orissa): Doctors at the district headquarter hospital here have decided not to conduct any post-mortem in future as commotion over the allegation of mutilation of bodies of victims of the Kalinga Nagar firing refused to die down.

Three of the doctors, who had conducted the post-mortem on the bodies, had been suspended by the administration earlier after it was found that the palms belonging to five bodies had been chopped off.

"Under the circumstances, it is not possible for us to conduct any more post-mortems here", a doctor said on conditions of anonymity.

The doctors have been peeved after allegations were levelled on Friday last that the breasts of a woman and private parts of four other male victims had been mutilated.

"The charge is motivated and false. If they had detected any such mutilation they should have pointed it out before the cremation", the Chief District Medical Officer, Jajpur, Dr. Brundaban Biswal said.

The requisition for post-mortem given by the police had instructed that the 'finger tips and blood' of the victims should be preserved for their identification, Biswal said.

However, Sini Soy of Gobarghati village at Kalinga Nagar, whose 25-year-old son Bhagaban Soy was killed in the firing, claimed that the genitals of the body had been removed.

This, she said, came to light when they took the bodies to bathe them in turmeric water before cremation as per the tribal ritual.

Chakradhar Haiburu, president of the 'Bisthapan Virodhi Jana Manch', presently spearheading the agitation against industrialisation, also said that he had received complaints from the people about the mutilations of the bodies.

"We didn't raise the issue at that moment as we were in shock", he said while demanding a CBI probe into the matter.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had yesterday asked the state human rights commission to inquire into the allegation.

Whether the bodies were actually mutilated as alleged and if so who did it, continues to remain under a cloud.