Building Construction Minister Ashok Chaudhary on Sunday said that media is projecting the issue of skeletons found near Sri Krishna Medical College in a way which is different from reality.

Chaudhary said, "Sometimes bodies have no claimants so the government gives Rs 2,000 to the postmortem department to burn the bodies, which they don't do many times. A probe will reveal the truth behind this and the media is projecting it differently."

For those unversed, hundreds of skeletal remains were discovered lying in open, in a forest near the government-run Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur.

Bihar Minister Ashok Chaudhary on skeletons found near SKMCH in Muzzaffarpur: Sometimes bodies have no claimants so Govt gives Rs2,000(to post mortem dept) to burn the bodies,which they don't do many times. Probe will reveal the truth behind this,media projecting it differently pic.twitter.com/gWm2pc1fNc

— ANI (@ANI) June 23, 2019

Hundreds of skeletons were found strewn on the ground or stuffed into sacks and one or two of the dead bodies were found charred in the forest area.

SKMCH Superintendent Sunil Kumar Shahi said, "When a hospital receives any dead body, it has to immediately contact the nearest police station and file a report in this connection. The corpse has to be kept in the postmortem room for 72 hours after the report has been filed. If no family member arrives for identification of the body within 72 hours, it is the duty of the postmortem department to bury or burn the body following the stipulated procedure."

The hospital is currently battling with an influx of cases of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). The death toll due to the vector-borne disease mounted to 129 on Sunday.