Whose handiwork?

An emergency meeting of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustees was called at the Albless Bungli at Doonger­wadi on Sunday March 11, 2012 to discuss the discovery of a hand skeleton in the compound of the Shapoorji Fakirji Jokhi Agiary at Godrej Baug. BPP trustee Khojeste Mistree wanted to write a letter to the police stating that the hand, presumably the left hand of a lady with fingers, palm, wrist and an extension of a forearm covered with parchment like skin, had been removed from the dakhma and placed behind the Agiary on March 7, 2012 by "miscreants.” But BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta and trustees Arnavaz Mistry, Jimmy Mistry, Armaity Tirandaz and Muncherji Cama refused to sign the letter as it could incriminate the Doongerwadi staff as having been complicit in the act. Jimmy Mistry has reportedly had a fall out with Khojeste Mistree.

Mistree was asked by a co-trustee if any locks on the dakhma doors had been tampered with. He reportedly replied in the negative. When asked how anybody could then enter the dakhma he or BPP trustee Yazdi Desai is said to have replied by climbing the solar panel scaffolding. How would the person get out then? By using ropes, came the response. This conjecture was dismissed by most of those present.

An audit of the bodies in the dakhma did not show any with a missing hand. A register is maintained listing the state of decomposition of the corpses on the pavis. When the dakhmas are periodically cleaned, the skin or other body parts that are fused by the heat to the pavis are scraped off and buried outside with the skeletal remains. The dakhmas were reportedly last cleaned nine months ago and the remains of corpses buried in an adjoining specially dug mass grave. The hand may have fallen off at that time, speculated the others. Due to the heat generated by the solar concentrators, the bones become brittle and break easily, said a BPP trustee.

Perform ceremonies

A sweeper found the "panjo” (hand) behind the Agiary’s rear entrance at around 9 a.m. on Wednesday and swept it away, stated an Agiary official who did not wish to be identified. The official also said the hand could not have been placed there at night as the morning strollers would have seen it. The sweeper reported the matter to the Agiary authorities who in turn notified the Godrej Baug custodian who then informed the BPP, stated the official. While there was a suggestion to toss or place the hand back in the dakhma as was the usual practice for body parts lying outside the Towers, it appears Mistree objected. (A Doonger­wadi staff member however told Parsiana he does not see any body parts lying outside the dakhmas.) Mistree insisted the part could not be put back without performing the requisite funerary rites, presumably just the geh sarna and not the four-day prayers. It was finally decided to call the police in the event that the hand belonged to a corpse not confined to the dakhma.

Mehta being in Dubai at the time, Mistree accompanied by Desai went to the Malabar Hill Police Station to record their statements. A Godrej Baug watchman and sweeper too had been taken for questioning. While the police and others believe the body part originated from the nearby Bisni dakhma, Mistree reportedly told the officers of the law that reformists may have placed the wrist in the compound to discredit the present system of disposal of the dead, says Godrej Baug resident and an office bearer of the colony’s association, Tehmtan Dumasia. When Mistree was reportedly asked if any such complaint had been lodged in the past with the police, he is said to have replied in the negative. The police also stated that if someone wished to discredit the system, they would have placed the hand in a prominent position, not in some remote corner, narrated Dumasia who observed the bones were "hollow” and must have weighed around 50 grams. Some people suggested if this was a reformist ploy to discredit dakhme­nashini and raise a ruckus the hand should have been placed near the Babulnath temple close by instead of the Jokhi Agiary.

When contacted by Parsiana on March 9, 2012 for his statements on the episode, Mistree replied, "My humble request is that the whole business should not be sensationalized.” He refrained from commenting further on the subject.

In the past when shriveled corpse remains were periodically removed from the dakhmas by the BPP, they were buried in shallow pits, states a former BPP trustee. But as animals began unearthing the corpses to presumably feed on them, the mass graves for the remains were dug deeper. Whether the hand is a remnant from that era or was picked up by a winged creature and deposited in the compound or was placed by some anti-dakhma crusader who ventured into the Towers presumably in the dark of night unseen, unafraid, swiped the part and in broad daylight placed it in the Agiary compound or whether it was the hand of God or the soul of a Godrej Baug resident which failed to cross the Chinwad Puhl clawing its way home, may never be known. As several Godrej Baug residents favored the winning Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Malabar Hill at the last municipal elections some joked the discarded hand belonged to the losing Congress Party (the palm being the party’s symbol).

But for now "the hand is in the hands of the police,” said the Agiary official.