Police in Kabale are holding a mortuary attendant attached to Kabale Regional Referral Hospital for demanding a bribe of Shillings 300,000 to release a corpse.
The deceased Surura Turyakira, 27, a resident of Kinungusi village in Upper Bugongi ward in Northern division in Kabale municipality was found floating in a stream in the area around 09:00 am Wednesday.
Police are treating the incident as a murder and investigations have commenced.
However, after a postmortem was carried out on Wednesday evening, relatives of the deceased went to pick up the body for burial but were met with resistance from the mortuary attendant.
They allege that Gundu demanded Shillings 300,000 to release the body from the mortuary. They claim to have offered Gundu shilling 150,000 but he turned them down.
One of the relatives identified as Byamukama, says after trying in vain, he contacted the Health Ministry Spokesperson, Emmanuel Ainebyona, Kabale District Health Educator, Alfred Besigensi, and Kabale Resident district commissioner, Godfrey Nyakahuma for help.
Byabakama says he was told not to give out any money until the suspect was arrested
Elly Maate, the Kigezi region police spokesperson, says that Gundu is being held at Kabale Central Police Station as investigations into the matter continue.