Woman cremates ‘brother’s body’, he walks in hours later
JAIPUR: THE POLICE OFFICIALS, MEANWHILE, ARE ONCE AGAIN TRYING TO IDENTIFY THE DEAD MAN
All it took Rajo Devi to identify a dead man as her brother was a hazy photograph published in local dailies. Rajo was all the more convinced that the body was of her elder brother Kaluram, after she dialled his cellphone number and it came “switched off”.
Rajo, a resident of Goluwala village in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district, claimed the body and the family cremated it as per Hindu rituals. Hours after the cremation, a curious family member, seeking to know how Kaluram died, dialled the 30-year-old’s cellphone number.
This time the call was answered by none other than Kaluram giving the family the shock of their life. Turns out, Rajo cremated someone else in a case of mistaken identity. The police officials, meanwhile, are once again trying to identify the dead man and are awaiting the postmortem report to ascertain the exact cause of death.
As per the police officials, a photograph of the body was published in the newspapers on Sunday seeking identification. “The body had been found hanging from a tree in Dalianwali village under Lalgarh police station area on Saturday,” said Mahavir Singh, head constable at Lalgarh police station.
When 27-year-old Rajo saw the photo, she thought the dead man looked like her brother Kaluram, who lived separately, some 6-7 kms from her house. According to police, Kaluram was a vagabond and the siblings did not share very close relations.
Rajo dialed his mobile phone, which came switched off. Convinced that her brother has died, Rajo reached Sri Ganganagar’s Lalgarh police station on Monday along with a dozen others and claimed the body.
The body was handed over to her after post mortem. She took the body around noon and it was cremated by 2 pm, police said. “Several relatives of the woman who came with her had also identified the body. Also, some public representatives too had come,” added the head constable.
“Devi also alleged that his brother was going out with a nomad woman and it was possible that she had got him killed,” the police official said.
After the cremation, a relative decided to call on Kaluram’s number. To everyone’s shock, he answered on the other end. Kaluram was told to reach his sister’s place at the earliest. He reached her place by 5 pm, much to the bewilderment of the family members who had “cremated him” hours ago. He had gone to visit somebody and meanwhile, his phone’s battery had died.