KANPUR, June 1 -- Ten days after Kanpur police took custody of a severed hand cited as a key piece of evidence in a medical negligence case, GSVM Medical College has alleged that the sample was deposited with the institution despite repeated communication that it lacks facilities for forensic histopathology, triggering a dispute between investigators and medical authorities.

The hand belonged to Nirmala Devi, mother of ITBP jawan Vikas Singh, who has accused two private hospitals of negligence that allegedly led to the amputation of her right arm. While medical college officials claimed the examination was effectively being imposed on a facility unequipped for such testing, police denied any coercion and said the sample was sent only aft...