The relatives of a man who had committed suicide were allegedly handed over the body of another at MR Bangur Hospital on Monday.

The family members of Subrata Bhattacharya, who had hanged himself on Saturday night, refused to accept the body. Police had to be called in to tackle the situation.

“The body that we were given did not have any marks on the neck. Instead, it had burns,” said Rupak Bhattacharya, nephew of Subrata.

He also said that while his uncle was a lean man the body handed over was of a heavier person. “My uncle had flowing hair, but the body is of a bald person,” Rupak added.

The hospital authorities dismissed the arguments of the family.

The 45-year-old trader from Netaji Nagar in Jadavpur committed suicide when his wife Champa was at her parents’ with their five-year-old daughter Aparna. After returning home on Sunday morning, Champa found her husband hanging from the ceiling fan in their bedroom. The body was sent to MR Bangur Hospital for post-mortem.

According to the family members, they waited several hours at the hospital on Sunday evening for the body but did not get it. “When we returned on Monday, they tried to pass off the body of another person as Subrata’s,” said a relative. “The hospital authorities are not co-operating with us.”

When the situation threatened to spin out of control the hospital authorities called the police. A large contingent led by the deputy superintendent (town) reached the hospital, followed by a Criminal Investigation Department team.

Later on Monday, hospital superintendent H.K. Chanda met Subrata’s relatives in the presence of senior police officers. After an hour-long discussion, it was decided that a post-mortem would be conducted on the body that was handed over in the presence of the family members on Tuesday.

“We will seek an order from a magistrate to conduct the post-mortem. If this is not enough to establish the identity of the body, a DNA test will also be done,” Chanda told Metro.

“We are sure that it’s not his body… But we will wait for the results of the report,” said a relative of Subrata.