A day after a body was transported along with vegetable bags in a beacon fitted van belonging to the elders’ care centre, as many as 80 officials from various departments, including revenue and police, visited premises of St Joseph Hospices in Kancheepuram following allegations of malpractice in disposing of dead bodies of inmates.

The home

Chennai:

Officials from six departments – revenue, police, local administration, health, pollution and social welfare – conducted inspections and also interacted with the inmates on Wednesday. 

After the inspection, divisional revenue officer G Raju told reporters, “We will go through all the documents and verify the claims of the management of the elderly care centre before we finalise the report. We will take action in case there is any violation.  

Father Thomas, who runs the centre, told the visiting officials that they use concrete vault burial system which allows natural decomposing and bones get collected in the 25 feet deep pit dug up under it for years together. “We don’t take the bones out at all. We may have to remove them once in 40 years,” he said.

On Tuesday, a beacon fitted van belonging to St Joseph Hospices was found carrying a body with bags of vegetables along with two aged persons on Edayamputhur Main Road in Salaivakkam by a group of local residents after they heard cries from the van, creating a flutter in the area.