Aug 27: The city police are planning to make post-mortem reports accessible to relatives of deceased online in an attempt to make it easier for them to collect the documents, sources said.

Relatives of a deceased now have to visit multiple government departments - a process that often stretches months - to collect the post-mortem report.

Once the new system takes effect, the police will send an Internet link of the report to the mobile number of one of the relatives.

A post-mortem report mentions the nature of injuries, cause and time of death and the condition of the vital organs when the body undergoes autopsy.

The report is a key piece of evidence not only to the cops probing an unnatural death but also to the family members of the deceased if they want to take legal steps against a suspect.

Sources said a web portal would be developed where the reports of all post-mortems related to cases in the Calcutta police area would be uploaded.

"Once the plan is implemented, people from across the world can access the reports through smartphones or computers provided their cell phone numbers are registered with the police," an officer said.

In Calcutta, post-mortems are conducted at Calcutta police morgue, Katapukur morgue, SSKM Hospital, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and NRS Medical College and Hospital. At times, it takes months for a morgue or a hospital to prepare the report and send it to the police.

In most cases, investigators have to depend on verbal inputs from doctors related to the findings of the procedure to assess the nature of the crime.