A staff from the crematorium where the body of the trainee doctor, who was raped and murdered at a Kolkata hospital, was cremated, said that her body arrived late after the postmortem.

Talking exclusively to India Today TV, Bhola Nath Patra, a staff member at the crematorium in Panihati in Kolkata, said that the victim’s body arrived around midnight on the day of the incident.

“Due to the post-mortem ending late, there was concern that the body was decomposing. Normally, bodies arrive promptly post-postmortem, but there was a delay,” he said.

He added that the crematorium was crowded with police, counsellors and the MLA of the area was also present.

Bhola Nath added that despite two bodies awaiting cremation, the victim’s body was cremated first on the instruction of the police.

Bhola Nath said that had the victim’s mother requested her daughter’s cremation to be delayed, they would have complied. However, the mother didn’t object, so the cremation proceeded quickly as per police orders.