The mortuary at the City Hospital of Sector 6 in Panchkula has seen a steady flow of visitors — policemen and the kin of the dead — over the past 24 hours.

At the last count, 32 people — all Dera supporters — lost their lives in the violence that took over Panchkula on Friday afternoon. Twenty-five of these have been identified, while seven make up the list of Unknown Bodies.

Most of the dead succumbed to bullet injuries.

The Haryana Police has been hard at work — labelling the dead, investigating their identities, overseeing post-mortems, contacting the police force in other states to reach out to families of the dead and, finally, handing over the bodies.

The process involves considerable paperwork and each Assistant Inspector stationed at the hospital is seen with his own list that details the particulars of the bodies of which he is in-charge.

Just this morning, one of the unknown bodies (number 3 on the list) was identified. The post-mortem report states it is a 35-year-old man, but Samar Pal says he was younger — “may be around 31 or 32.” He has travelled all the way from Dhimri Block in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand to be sure that it is his younger brother who’s been lying in the mortuary since the evening of August 26. It was brought to Panchkula from Chandigarh government hospital in Sector 32.

Samar Pal works in Ashok Leyland and ferries various auto parts from store rooms to the shop floor in trolleys. He earns Rs 6,000 a month and has a wife and three children to feed.

Samar Pal, the deceased Chander Pal’s brother.

He is accompanied by the village pradhan, Makhan Lal, a sub-inspector and two constables of Uttarakhand Police. “Samar Pal comes from a very poor family so he could not afford to come on his own, I have got him in my car. I will ask the villagers to pool in for the ambulance to take his brother back to the village. He won’t even be able to shell out 500 rupees,” says the pradhan.

The ambulance back to Dhimri Block from Panchkula – a 12-hour drive — may cost Samar Pal Rs 9,000. He reached the hospital at about 11 in the morning and left at 6 in the evening. Throughout the official formalities involved in taking possession of his brother’s body, Samar Pal did not break down or so much as shed a tear. He smiles occasionally and talks often about his father’s death and how he had to start working at the age of 15 to take care of his three siblings – Chander Pal being the youngest, who took a bullet through his chest for Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

A sweet, quiet boy

Chander Pal had been a devotee at the Dera for about 10 years. He lived in Sirsa for a year-and-a-half, working at a petrol pump and earned Rs 1,600 there.

His brother says he refused to get married for the longest time and wanted to become a sadhu. “But we somehow talked him into getting married. Once you’re married and have a family, you have to earn for them. Before that he would just depend on me. I put him to work as a mechanic but he didn’t last long. After marriage, he began working at a shop, fixing inverters and stabilisers,” he says.

Chander Pal earned Rs 7,000 a month and is survived by a wife and two children.

It isn’t clear what got him interested in the Dera and its activities but his brother says he was formally initiated into the sect – which means abstaining from alcohol, non-vegetarian food and sexual desires for anyone other than your wife in exchange for a mantra. For devotees, this mantra is a panacea.

Samar Pal says his brother had left for Panchkula to be present for the case hearing. He doesn’t know much about his affiliation with the Dera or the so-called ‘messenger of god’ – no one else from the family is a follower. The pradhan says the village has about 15 to 20 followers – all of whom belong to poor families. “There is too much andh-vishvaas [superstition].”

While speaking of Chander Pal, the village chief says, he was soft-spoken and never picked a fight with anyone. “Zyada soch samajh nahin thi [he wasn’t very worldly-wise].” His brother says no one in the village probably even knew where he lived. He didn’t have many friends, didn’t meet many people. He isn’t very sure if Chander Pal could be capable of rioting.

The deceased Chander Pal.

Chander Pal studied till Class 9 and while his brother started working at the age of 15 as a daily wage labourer in farm lands, he started working only after he got married in 2012.

Both the pradhan and the police officer discuss at length how a life was lost over a fake “Baba” and that villagers should be warned against such men and blind faith. “Gareeb aadmi ka hi loss hota hai. Kya faida hua Baabe ke chakkar main padne ka? [It’s the poor man who loses out. What was the point of getting involved with the Baba],” says the Haryana Police officer.

The immediate worry for Samar Pal, though, is not his brother’s belief system that led him to his death but the cremation rituals that may cost him close to Rs 35,000. He says he has to take the ashes to Haridwar and host a feast on the 13^th day. “I will have to borrow some money or manage it somehow,” he says, insisting that taking the ashes to Haridwar is not something he can skip to save cost.

Chander Pal and his family are unlikely to get any compensation from the government but the pradhan says he should at least get something from the Dera. “He gave his life [he uses the word “qurbani”] because of them, they should at least give him some money. This is such a poor family. How will they manage? Doesn’t the Dera have some responsibility?”

Samar Pal agrees. “Yes, they should pay for his wife and children.” When asked if he would like to give out a message or share his thoughts on the whole incident, he says, nothing really comes to his mind: “Aisa kuch bolne ko toh nahin hai.”

The author can be contacted at manisha.pande1110@gmail.com and on Twitter @MnshaP.