Kolkata man loses severed finger at hospital as staff members were busy watching India-NZ game

While the whole of India was left in mourning when umpire Richard Illingworth raised his dreaded finger to give Virat Kohli out in the semi-final clash against New Zealand at Old Trafford on Wednesday. A family in Kolkata was left distraught when one of its members lost his severed fingertip from the hospital, apparently because of the staff members were busy watching the big clash.

It so happened that Nilotpal Chakraborty, a chemical engineer by profession, had the tip of his left ring-finger severed in an accident on the same day. One of his colleagues picked the severed part and brought to the hospital in South Kolkata where the man was admitted for treatment.

The patient’s wife, Chayanika, said the severed finger part was deposited at the hospital’s emergency desk and that they had requested the hospital authorities to preserve it as the surgery to stitch it back was scheduled for Thursday morning. Later, she alleged that the hospital did not do the needful since the staff members were busy watching the India-New Zealand match, a report in Times of India said. She also lodged a police complaint accusing the hospital staff of negligence.

The hospital then searched for the missing fingertip and after two hours, it was announced that the part had gone missing. The hospital authorities also claimed later that the severed fingertip could not have been stitched back but said they were investigating the matter.

India lost the semi-final

The police sought CCTV footage from the hospital from the day of the incident. India were, meanwhile, out of the race for a third world title as they lost to the Black Caps by 18 runs in a game that had gone down to the wire. Having batted first after winning the toss, Kane Williamson’s men scored 239 for 8 in 50 overs on ‘Day 2’ of the match after the game was disrupted by rain on the scheduled day which was Tuesday.

India then had a horrendous start to their chase as they lost three wickets for five runs with their top three back into the hut. Ravindra Jadeja scored a counter-attacking 77 off 59 balls while Mahendra Singh Dhoni made 50 to add 116 runs for the seventh wicket but it still was inadequate to take India to their fourth World Cup final.