Family performed his last rites — Turns out he was alive, in Punjab prison

Kapurthala police launch a fresh probe to identify a wrongly cremated body after a family learns their missing son is actually behind bars.

In a bizarre case of mistaken identity, a family that believed their 35-year-old son was dead—and had already performed his last rites last month—discovered he is alive and behind bars in Kapurthala.

Struggling with drug addiction, a 35-year-old man went missing during a neighborhood religious function, prompting his family to file a formal police report. (Unsplash)

The revelation came on September 2 when jail authorities called up the family, informing them that Ravi Kumar had been lodged in Kapurthala jail since August 5. The news caught local police off guard, triggering a fresh investigation into whose body was actually cremated.

Ravi, who struggles with drug addiction, went missing on August 5 during a neighborhood religious function. His family filed a formal missing person report at the Kapurthala City police station shortly after.

“On August 12, the Kapurthala police informed us that a decomposed body was recovered from the Kanjhli wetland area and asked us to identify it,” said Ravi’s brother, Amandeep. “Though the face was disfigured, we identified him by his clothes.”

The family cremated the corpse on August 13.

Three weeks later, the call from prison upended everything. “We were shocked and relieved at the same time,” Amandeep said. “We met Ravi in prison. He told us the Jalandhar Commissionerate Police arrested him for loitering on August 5 and transferred him to Kapurthala jail that evening.”

Kapurthala deputy superintendent of police Sheetal Singh acknowledged the blunder, confirming both the jail presence and the Jalandhar police arrest.

“The police followed standard operating procedures for an unidentified body,” the DSP said. “The family identified the remains by the clothing due to the advanced decomposition.”

One of the senior police officials said the family registered Ravi’s missing complaint on August 7 after they failed to locate him. “Ravi was arrested by Jalandhar commissionerate police on August 5 and was sent to Kapurthala jail on the same day. The jail authorities contacted his family on September 2 after finding that his family was unaware of his arrest in bailable offences,” an official said.

He added that as far as DNA matching of body identified at Kanjli wetland is concerned, no biological samples were collected during autopsy as it was claimed as Ravi’s dead body by his family.

The department now faces a cold case with no clear victim. “We now have an unidentified corpse with no matching missing persons report and no clear leads,” Sheetal Singh said. “DNA testing isn’t viable at this stage, so we are reviewing technical evidence, including cell tower dump data from the Kanjhli wetland, to establish the deceased’s identity.”