Kolkata Police issues “fake news” alert on video claiming bodies of those who died from COVID-19 being disposed

A video of decomposed bodies being loaded into a van at a Kolkata crematorium shared widely on social media as bodies of those who died from Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) – has been stated to be “fake” by the city police authorities.

The video on social media had led Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to tweet mentioning the video and saying these were “disposal of dead bodies with heartless, indescribable insensitivity. Not sharing video due to sensitivity”.

Kolkata Police later tweeted: “The West Bengal Health Department has informed that dead bodies were not of COVID patients, but were unclaimed/unidentified bodies from Hospital Morgue. Legal action is being taken against persons spreading #FakeNews.”

Locals apparently protested when the van arrived with the bodies and a man is seen in the video holding the bodies with a pair of tongs. Kolkata Municipal Corporation administrator Firhad Hakim said that unclaimed bodies were earlier cremated at the Dhapa crematorium but from May 29, this has been earmarked only for those who died from COVID-19 and the unclaimed bodies were taken to the Garia crematorium.

Later, Dhankhar tweeted: “Issue is not whether the dead bodies were Covid ones! That is a matter of probe. Issue – How human bodies can be so shamelessly dragged! Being treated worse than animals…”