Vadodara: ‘Dead man’ returns home after cremation, city cops perplexed

VADODARA: Mystery of a dead man walking is something the cops do not often come across. However, the Chhani police have been investigating a case in which a man, who his family claimed was dead, returned home safe. And, the body of an unidentified man was cremated due to mistaken identity.
It all started on June 16 when the cops got information about a dead man lying near Dumad crossroads.The cops began investigations to ascertain his identity and also circulated the photos of the body on social media. “One of tea-stall vendors in Chhani saw the photos and hinted that it might be of a man named Sanjay,” the police said.
The cops called up Sanjay’s father Shanabhai Solanki who rushed to the police station and later was taken to SSG Hospital. Shanabhai, who does odd jobs for a living, told the cops that it was his son Sanjay’s body. He also claimed that his son had not visited their house for a month and was not in contact with his family.
After conducting a postmortem, the cops handed over the body to the Solanki family that cremated it two days later. However, hours later, 49-year-old Sanjay walked into his house, leaving Shanabhai shocked. He immediately rushed to Chhani police station with his son.
“The cops too were surprised when they saw Sanjay alive. Shanabhai claimed that the body’s height, build and other features matched his son Sanjay’s so he mistakenly identified it as his son. He said that he made the mistake as the body was in a decomposed state,” said PSI K H Ambariya who is investigating the case. The case of mistaken identity has, however, left the cops baffled.
“We have now started an inquiry to ascertain the identity of the dead man. Photographs of his body have been circulated on social media. We have collected the body’s viscera samples that will be sent for DNA identification,” Ambariya told TOI.