Government Railway Police (GRP) men on Tuesday arrested a suspected corpse smuggler and recovered from him 50 human skeletons at Chapra railway station in India’s Bihar Saran district.

The arrested man, identified as Sanjay Prasad, was travelling in Balia-Sealdah Express.

GRP official suspect that the skeletons, being brought from Balia in Uttar Pradesh, were meant to be smuggled to China via Bhutan.

Prasad was being interrogated and his mobile contacts were also being scanned, they said.

Sonepur deputy superintendent of police (rail) Mohammad Tanvir said the GRP men also recovered Nepal and Bhutan currencies, many ATM cards, two identity cards and SIM cards with Nepal mobile phone numbers from his possession.

One of the identity cards had address of Paharpur in West Champaran while the second card was issued from New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, the DSP said.

“The GRP will seek the remand of the arrested person when he is produced in a court on Wednesday,” Tanvir said.

Another officer, requesting anonymity, said there was a huge demand for skeletons among medical students. The arrested man was being interrogated to find out details of other persons involved in the smuggling of skeletons and whether he had links with people in Nepal and Bhutan, he said.

“The seizure of foreign currency is a definite indication that the racket may have its tentacles spread to foreign countries,” the officer said.

In 2009, Saran police had seized more than 67 human skulls from a bus and arrested a smuggler. In April 2004, 1000 skulls and other parts of human carcass were seized near Falgu river in Gaya.