A police watchdog has launched an inquiry into how the body of a missing teenager lay unidentified in a morgue for more than two months after he was found in the Thames.
The family of Krishna Chummun, 19, say the Met faces a series of questions over its handling of the case, including why they were not told of their son’s death.
Krishna Chummum disappeared last August after playing football with friends and was reported missing by his family in Edmonton. His body was later recovered from the Thames near the London Eye in October.
In November Met officers issued a missing persons appeal, not realising his body was lying in the morgue. His distraught family were only told the body had been identified on Boxing Day as that of their son.
His parents, Chandra and Medha Chummun, have criticised the missing persons inquiry, saying officers as-sumed Krishna had committed suicide because he sent a text from his phone saying he planned to kill himself. They accept he had been depressed after a row with his girlfriend but believe there is a possibility he was murdered.
The family claim an elderly neighbour witnessed Krishna being beaten up by a gang outside their home on the night he disappeared. However, the 81-year-old woman died before she could be interviewed by police.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Chandra, 51, said: “He was always jovial and happy. I am a psychiatric-trained nurse and if my son was suicidal I would have known. He was full of life. We believe from day one that the police did not take this case seriously. They just put it down as a suicide and did not investigate.”
Medha, 47, said: “My son has been treated unfairly. I want justice for him because I assure you there is no possibility of him committing suicide. The police have not done enough.”
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it had launched an inquiry into the case, and would examine the family’s claim that they were not taken seriously because of their race.
Scotland Yard says there were serious difficulties in identifying the student because his body was severely decomposed after being in the water for so long, and because he had been wearing a different shoe size and clothes to the football kit he was wearing when he was missing.
He was eventually identified through DNA analysis.
