Mumbai: The corpse of an 80-year-old man preserved in a Malad clinic’s freezer for the past four years on the instructions of his family has baffled Mumbai police. They are now consulting experts on the legality of such preservation and its duration, if allowed.The family, who live in Mumbai, told police that they want to move the corpse to a cryonics centre in the US to allow them to preserve it for as long as possible. Police have not filed any formal charges so far.Kurar police visited the polyclinic following a tipoff on Monday night and found the man’s body inside a freezer. The clinic had been shut for the past month for renovation. Police reached out to the man’s family, comprising his elderly wife and adult children. They produced documents showing that the man had died of natural causes in 2022.The children told police that they had been deeply disturbed by his death and wanted to preserve his body for as long as possible. They researched online and came across organisations in the US that offer cryonics, in which legally dead people are preserved at extremely low temperatures, typically using liquid nitrogen. Cryopreservation of cells, tissues and embryos is an established scientific practice, but cryonics is still considered experimental by mainstream scientists.The family began communicating with one such organisation about whether they could move the corpse to the US. They also consulted lawyers in India on the legality of preserving the body here.In the interim, the corpse remained at the clinic, but neither the clinic management nor the family informed local police. Police only learnt about it from locals on Monday night.The property owner, who had rented out the premises for clinic operations since 2022, said he too had not been informed about the body. He told police that he and his family used to visit the clinic to consult a physician whenever someone was unwell.Police recorded the statements of the family members, the clinic management and the property owner on Tuesday. A decision on conducting the man’s final rites is yet to be taken. Police personnel have been posted at the clinic.
