Patna: A man who died while undergoing treatment for a bullet injury at a Patna hospital was found with a missing eye just hours after his death.  

The family of the deceased has accused the doctors of removing the eye as part of an alleged “business,” while the hospital has pointed fingers at rats.  

The victim, identified as Fantus Kumar, was admitted to Patna’s second-largest hospital, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), on Thursday after being shot by unknown assailants. He underwent surgery on November 15 and was later shifted to the ICU. Fantus died on Friday night, but his body remained on the ICU bed as a postmortem could not be conducted overnight.  

The next morning, the family discovered the man’s eye was missing and accused the doctors of negligence. Relatives also claimed that a surgical blade was found near the table.  

“How can they be so negligent? Either someone from the hospital conspired with the people who shot him, or the hospital is involved in some business of taking people’s eyes out,” a family member told a leading media outlet.  

“If we can’t trust such a big facility, who can we trust? Someone took his eye out in the ICU, and the hospital is saying it doesn’t know what happened. This is very unfortunate,” the relative added.  

NMCH Medical Superintendent Dr. Vinod Kumar Singh has blamed rats for the incident. He stated that a four-member team has been formed to investigate the matter, and action will be taken against those found guilty of negligence.  

“The possibility of rats biting off the eye cannot be ignored. We will have to wait for the post-mortem results. This is not acceptable, and anyone found guilty will be punished,” he said.  

The hospital is also reviewing CCTV footage as part of the investigation.