Hundreds of skeletons were discovered lying in the open in a forest near the government-run hospital.

A Bihar minister has claimed the media is projecting the issue of human skeletons found dumped near a Muzaffarpur hospital in a "different" manner than the reality.

"Sometimes bodies have no claimants so the government gives Rs 2,000 to the postmortem department to burn the bodies, which they don't do many times," Building Construction Minister Ashok Chaudhary on Sunday said.

The minister added, "A probe will reveal the truth behind this and media is projecting it differently."

Hundreds of skeletal remains were discovered lying in the open in a forest near the government-run Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. One or two of the dead bodies were found charred while hundreds of skeletons were found strewn on the ground or stuffed into sacks in the forest area.

"When a hospital receives any dead body, it has to immediately contact the nearest police station and file a report in this connection. The corpse has to be kept in the postmortem room for 72 hours after the report has been filed. If no family member arrives for identification of the body within 72 hours, it is the duty of the postmortem department to bury or burn the body following the stipulated procedure," SKMCH Superintendent Sunil Kumar Shahi said.

The hospital is also battling with an influx of cases of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).