Anyone can face a situation where sudden death occurs in the family and bereaved relatives are forced to wait with the body at home for others who stay far away.

But now, a Jamshedpur entrepreneur has come up with a hi-tech interim resting place for the departed souls.

Inspired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India campaign, Sanjeev Gupta has designed and manufactured a portable morgue.

The owner of Pacific Sales in the steel city, Gupta has put to use his 30 years of his experience in the industrial cooling sector to build the morgue units that will be sold to social outfits. These NGOs, in turn, will rent out the facility to families in need.

"I have seen many times that people face a lot of problem due to shortage of space in mortuaries, especially when one is waiting for relatives to come for the last rites. Since hospital mortuaries have limited space, family members then try to arrange ice blocks and somehow store the corpse in unhealthy conditions," said Gupta.

Manufactured at cost of Rs 1.5 lakh, each of these morgues will be sold for at least Rs 2 lakh.

Each of the portable morgues will be 7ft in length and 2.5ft in width.

Gupta said his portable morgue works on the principle of a simple refrigeration system with a compressor, valves, condenser, pipes and tubes. The box, which is of high quality anti-bacterial stainless steel, has an imported glass cover.

The anti-bacterial feature helps the machine to be used again and again, but without compromising on hygiene. The portable morgue also comes with an installed audio system, air freshener and digital temperature controller.

"The user will just have to place the body and plug in the sockets. Cooling starts within 10 minutes. Since it is designed to keep the corpse for four days maximum, the temperature is between seven and 10°C. For long term storage, the temperature required is generally -10°C," he added.