25-year-old Chhattisgarh man found alive days after family conducts his last rites

Purushottam had been missing for two days when the police retrieved an unidentified man from a well in the Manpur area of Surajpur on Nov 1

Raipur: A 25-year-old man in Chhattisgarh’s Surajpur district, who was believed to have died, has returned home, days after his family performed the last rites for a body of an unidentified man under the mistaken impression that it was him, police said.

The autopsy report indicated that the man had died due to drowning (Unsplash)

Purushottam, a resident of Chanderpur village, had been missing for two days when the police retrieved an unidentified man from a well in the Manpur area of Surajpur on November 1. The information was circulated to the nearby villages for identification.

Purushottam’s family had reported him missing to the police after they could not locate him and came across the information about the body. They identified the dead man as Purushottam. The body was handed over to them, and the last rites were conducted.

Additional Superintendent of Police Santosh Mahto said that after some days, relatives told the grieving family that Purushottam was spotted in Ambikapur, about 45 km away. A frantic search ensued, and on November 4, the family located him at a relative’s house in Ambikapur and brought him home.

“I had gone to Ambikapur in Surguja district. Later, I learned that my family had performed the last rites of someone else, mistaking him for me,” said Purushottam.

Additional Superintendent of Police Santosh Mahto said the DNA samples, fingerprints, clothes, and other belongings of the deceased were preserved. A post-mortem report had cited drowning as the cause of death.

Purushottam’s mother Mankunwar said the photograph had convinced her that the dead man was her son. “People in the village said it was him…. I am just happy my son is alive. I have nothing more to say,” she said.