Declared ‘dead’ in Kandhla ‘exodus’ report, man turns out to be alive

Yogendra Sethi, upon learning about his “death” from a neighbour two days ago, “rushed to Kandhla on Sunday to prove that I am still alive.”

“Due to the disturbing situation in Kandhla, I decided to shift to Delhi with my mother Raj Rani about a year ago,” Yogendra told The Indian Express.

The district administration had declared him and three other persons “dead” after conducting an inquiry into the 63 names in the second “exodus” list released by BJP MP Hukum Singh on June 14. The subdivisional magistrate of Kairana, Ram Avtar Gupta, who had similarly led the inquiry into the MP’s first list of 346 Hindu families, admitted to learning about the man who was declared dead as being “alive”.

He, however, cited the “confusion” at the neighbours’ end, whom the team had consulted as part of its investigation. “The team, which was led by the Revenue Officer, prepared its report on the basis of information collected from the local residents. In this case, it appears that neighbours must have told the team that the man (Yogendra) was dead,” the SDM said.

Revenue Officer Radhey Shyam has decided to “visit the locality again to verify Yogendra’s claim”. “I believe the neighbours were confused with Yogendra’s brother, who actually is dead,” he said.

“I will meet officials in the administration for correction in the records,” Yogendra said.