They beat up the hospital staff and later lodged a complaint with the hospital authorities.

The hospital claimed that they had no clue about the missing ornaments. Police have registered a case

“When we admit patients, we ask them to hand over all valuables, including jewellery, to the relatives. But I do not know what happened in this case. We have received a complaint from the relatives that ornaments were missing from the dead patient. Later, the relatives targeted the hospital, ransacked it and bashed up our staff,” said Suresh Kumar Sharma, Administrator of Jain Hospital.

The patient, Jaidunnissa (60), was a resident of Belilias Road in Howrah. She lived with her husband M D Kalim, sons and daughters, the police said.

She lost consciousness on Sunday night and was rushed to the Jain Hospital where she was admitted to the female ward. It is alleged she was wearing gold chains, bangles and rings worth around Rs 56,000 at that time.

Her condition deteriorated on Monday night and she died early Tuesday morning. When her relatives came to take her body, they reportedly found no jewellery on her.

They contacted the hospital authorities, which denied any knowledge about the jewellery.

“When we were preparing to take her body for last rites, we found that all her jewellery were gone. We spoke to the hospital authorities. They told us to hush up the matter and even agreed to pay Rs 30,000. Why would they do that if they are not guilty,” said K Alam, a relative of the deceased.

As the news spread, hundreds of locals from Belilias Road barged into the hospital and ransacked it.