Tata eye probe report says nothing new

Tata eye probe report says nothing new
MANOJ PRASAD

JAMSHEDPUR, JULY 30: Tata Main Hopital has been an island of efficiency in Bihar's lethargic landscape. Perhaps, not any longer.

A week after eyes were found gouged out from three bodies in the hospital's morgue, the hospital authorities are still clueless and an inquiry panel has come out with a report which says nothing.

The three-member panel headed by East Singhbhum Civil Surgeon N.K. Prasad has failed to get to the bottom of the case. The report -- to be submitted to the East Singbhum Deputy Commissioner Amit Khare -- says that the eyes were ``tampered with, each by an instrument or by anything with a sharp edge.''

Khare ordered the inquiry after Jamshedpur police registered an FIRon July 28 saying that ``the eye lid'' of Shanti Mishra had cut injuries and blood clots around it. Before Mishra's case at the morgue on July 21, B.B.Dutta's left eye bore signs of ``blood clots and cuts'' and S.K. Biswas's eyeball was found missing.

All the three were above 70 years. None of them belonged to Tisco or any Tata company and were categorised as ``non-entitled'' patients of the TMH.

After Dutta's case surfaced, TMH General Manager Dr G.K. Lath hadconducted an inquiry and his report ruled out the possibilitythat the crime was committed for cornea transplantation.

``Examination of the bodies and evidence gathered by us negated thehypothesis that cornea was meant to be taken out from any of thesebodies,'' Dr Lath told The Indian Express.

Dr Lath said it could either be some miscreants who wanted to tarnish the image of the institution or rats. The TMH management has deployed securitymen at the morgue and has launched a drive to ensure that the ratsdon't sneak inside.