Relatives Seize Body After Pishachmochan Kund Drowning; Police Recover It for Autopsy

A drowning at Pishachmochan Kund under Sigra police limits on Wednesday morning was followed by a brief clash over the body, with relatives allegedly taking the deceased away before police recovered it and completed the post-mortem.

Police accounts and local reporting identify the deceased as Raju Kumar. He drowned at the kund in the Sigra station area. Officers moved to take the body to the divisional hospital for autopsy, a routine step after an unnatural death. Relatives opposed the post-mortem, raised a protest at the hospital approach, and — according to the police version — assaulted officers before placing the body in an e-rickshaw and leaving.

Once that was reported, police went to the family’s home, took the body back into custody and returned it to the hospital so the post-mortem could proceed. Additional officers were posted at the hospital to prevent a repeat of the confrontation.

Disputes over autopsy are not rare in Banaras when families fear delay in funeral rites or object on personal grounds. The legal position after a drowning or other unnatural death is that inquest and post-mortem are required before the body is released, unless a competent authority records a different order. Wednesday’s sequence — drowning, attempted hospital transfer, alleged assault and brief removal of the body, then recovery and autopsy — is the public timeline available to the desk.

Sigra police have not, in the material reviewed here, announced separate FIRs naming individual relatives for the alleged assault. Any such case would be a distinct legal track from the drowning inquiry itself. This report treats the assault claim as an allegation pending formal record.

Pishachmochan remains a busy ritual and bathing spot linked to the city’s older kund geography. After monsoon rise and recent rain, stone steps and kund edges can be slippery; the desk is not assigning cause of the drowning beyond the reported fact of death by drowning pending the autopsy finding. Morning visitors and priests who use the kund regularly often ask stations to keep a closer eye on deep edges after heavy rain weeks, though that is community caution rather than a finding in this case.

Hospital mortuary corridors in Varanasi have seen similar stand-offs when large family groups arrive together. Reinforcing the perimeter after a body is recovered is standard practice so the autopsy team can finish without a second interruption. Families seeking the body after formalities are typically guided through the station house officer at Sigra and the hospital mortuary desk.

Further updates will depend on the post-mortem conclusion and any written case arising from the hospital clash. Until then, the verified points are the drowning, the brief removal of the body, its recovery, and completion of the autopsy process under police watch.