Locals protest against burial of doctor who died of virus

A 55-year-old doctor in Chennai, who died of COVID-19 on Sunday, was denied burial in a cemetery at Kilpauk. Locals pelted stones at the ambulance which was carrying the doctor's body, hurting the driver and a sanitation worker.

Chennai: Residents in Anna Nagar in Chennai objected against the burial of the body of a 55-year-old doctor who died of coronavirus, in a cemetery at Kilpauk, on Sunday.

They pelted stones at the ambulance which was carrying the doctor's body, hurting the driver and a sanitation worker.

The deceased, a neurosurgeon and the chairman of a private hospital in Chennai, was later laid to rest under police security.

After battling for life for over two weeks, the doctor succumbed to coronavirus infection at a private hospital on Sunday.

"It was dark. People started hurling stones at us. My driver and I were hit by stones," told an employee in the hospital run by the neurosurgeon.

Later, police arrived and the body of the doctor was finally laid to rest in the same burial ground.

Around 20 people were arrested for damaging the ambulance. This is the second incident of a doctor being disallowed burial in Chennai.