Purbasthali, Feb. 26: A racket in human skeletons thrives along the banks of the Bhagirathi in Burdwan district even as villagers complain of stench from the decomposed corpses.

Three raids were conducted in the area between Patuli Ghat and Jogeswar Ghat, 200 km from Calcutta, but police could not arrest anyone because of lack of evidence.

However, the man running the business, Mukti Biswas, is candid about his operations.

“I am doing nothing wrong. Poor people cannot cremate their dead because they don’t have money. Either they bury the bodies or throw them in the Bhagirathi. Sometimes half-burnt bodies are left abandoned on the cremation ghats. We pick them up, get the skeletons and sell them. There is a big demand for skeletons among medical students. We have sent skeletons even to Bangladesh,” Biswas, who refused to be photographed, told The Telegraph.

Biswas said he makes about seven to eight skeletons a month on an average. “If luck favours, a skeleton fetches about Rs 10,000.”

Following complaints by residents of the Krishnadebpur panchayat of Kalna recently that at least 11 bodies had disappeared from a graveyard, the police had detained Biswas about six months ago but released him because of lack of evidence.

District superintendent of police Peeyush Pandey said he had asked Purbasthali police station to carry out a thorough probe into the matter and stop the business.

Santana Mullick, the pradhan of the Nimdaha gram panchayat, said: “Whenever Biswas and his gang members find a decomposed body floating in the river, they pick it up.”

The body is then allowed to decompose further. After a few days, the severely decomposed body is submerged in a mixture of caustic soda and acid to separate the flesh from the bones. The skeletons are then ready for sale.

Mullick said the entire locality stinks when the bodies are left to decompose. “We have submitted a memorandum to the police station requesting action but nothing has been done so far.”

Pradip Chatterjee, the assistant public prosecutor of the Burdwan chief judicial magistrate’s court, said: “Nobody can do business with dead bodies. It is the duty of the police to seize the bodies and send them for post-mortem.”