Around 10.30 am on Friday, Ashok Dhar, deputy inspector-general of prisons (security), received a call in his office from a senior district administration official from Bankura.

The missive: Dhananjoy Chatterjee’s brother Bikash had expressed a wish to be in Calcutta for Saturday morning’s execution.

“Their (the family’s) plan has changed. Make all necessary arrangements for his stay in Calcutta and for him to take the body to Bankura if he so wishes,” Dhar instructed his officials.

Back in Bankura, Dhananjoy’s family members kept waiting for “divine intervention”.

Bikash, who has been running from legal pillar to administrative post to try and save his elder brother, said: “It has happened so many times… We are all hoping something miraculous will take place at the last minute.”

Bikash first told some friends in his village on Friday that he wanted to see his brother one last time before he was hanged.

When this piece of information reached the district administration, it was promptly relayed to Writers’ Buildings.

With doubts over the family’s moves persisting, officials in the state administration were not sure about how the last rites would be performed on Saturday. Officials maintained that the body would be handed over to any family member who turned up.

“If they do not claim the body, it will be handed over to the Hindu Satkar Samity and cremated at Keoratala. A priest will perform the last rites, if Dhananjoy wants it that way,” said a government official.

“All kinds of arrangements will be provided if Dhananjoy’s family wants to take his body back to his village. The government will hand over the body along with his death certificate,” an official added.

Jails minister Biswanath Chowdhury said the death-row convict’s wish to donate his eyes and kidneys had been communicated to the state health department.

A health department official said: “The kidneys of a person who is hanged to death cannot be used.”

There was some confusion whether his eyes could be donated without a nod from his family members. A team from the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology will, however, be present at Alipore Central jail.

The other wish — of donating the body — will not be fulfilled as a post-mortem must be carried out.