BHUBANESWAR: As several of the dead in the Bahanaga train tragedy continue to remain unidentified, a womans fraudulent attempt at claiming one of the bodies as that of her husbands on Sunday has prompted the Odisha government to sound an alarm.Pradeep Kumar Jena, state chief secretary, on Monday asked the railways and the Odisha police to take action against such fake claimants, who may resort to fraudulent tactics to claim compensation.On Sunday, a 40-year-old woman who identified herself as Gitanjali Dutta from Cuttack, turned up at a temporary morgue in Balasore where police personnel were busy verifying documents of several claimants of bodies.I suspected her intention as she looked unusually calm.
She saw some of the photographs of the unidentified bodies.
She picked up one and claimed it was her husband, Bikas Kumar Palei, a sub-inspector of Odisha police, said.We contacted Baramba police under whose jurisdiction she stays.
The police reverted in an hour saying her husband is alive.
She started running when we reprimanded her.
Her intention was to claim compensation, Palei said.