In a case of mistaken identity, a 36-year-old man from India who was reported dead and cremated eight months ago has been found alive and well eight months later.
Tuesday night, police from the town of Margao in Goa discovered Deepak Balakrishnan Kandi in a hotel on the old station road.
The Times of India writes that he was then transferred to the custody of Kerala police, who had been searching for him after discovering that the cremated body was not his.
According to police sources, Deepak went missing on June 7 of last year from the town of Meppayur in the Kerala district, which is around 540 kilometers south of Margao.
Tuesday night, police from the town of Margao in Goa discovered Deepak Balakrishnan Kandi (pictured) in a hotel on the old station road.
A report of a missing person was filed at the local police station.
However, on July 17, a man’s body retrieved from a beach in Kerala was incorrectly recognized as Deepak’s due to a likeness.
Deepak’s family performed the last rituals, but Kerala police discovered days later that the cremated remains belonged to Irshad, a Panthirkkara native who had also gone missing.
A DNA test performed on samples of Deepak’s skeletal remains corroborated the police’s case of “mistaken identity.”
A manhunt was subsequently initiated, and the inquiry was taken over by the criminal investigation division.
On Tuesday, the municipality of Margao’s police conducted standard hotel surveillance.
During a random check of the guestlist of a hotel on the old station road, they discovered Deepak’s Aadhar number, which is a voluntary identification number that may be obtained by Indian citizens and resident foreign nationals.
Deepak told the authorities that he had traveled to numerous locations, including Jaipur, Delhi, and Punjab, prior to his recent arrival in Goa.
He added that he had done some informal employment in the Goan village of Bogmalo.
Deepak proceeded to the hotel in Margao, where he was eventually discovered by the police, bringing an end to his eight-month disappearance.
At the Margao police station on Wednesday, when reporters informed Deepak that his last rites had been carried out, he grinned and said that he had never heard of such a thing before Kerala police officers dragged him away.
In India, an old woman narrowly escaped being burned to death in May 2021 due to another incidence of mistaken identity.
Shakuntala Gaikwad tested positive for the presence of Covid.
Yahoo said that her relatives brought her to Silver Jubilee Hospital in Baramati, but were turned away due to crowded wards.
As they awaited an ambulance, she became unconscious, and her relatives, erroneously believing she had dead, prepared her for cremation.
But moments before the fire was set, Shakuntala awoke in a panic on her own coffin and began weeping.
The local police have verified the account.
Later, she was returned to the hospital for treatment.
»Eight months after being CREMATED in India, ‘dead’ man turns up alive and well«