Tamil Nadu: ‘Dead and buried’ man walks back home after four days, shocks family

He and his friends rushed to the spot and identified the body as his father Moorthy, 55, a daily wage labourer of Thuraiyampalayam.

After a post-mortem, Moorthy’s son M Karthi was handed over the body and subsequently, the body was buried. Later, on Monday, April 4, around evening, Moorthy walked into his home in Thuraiyampalayam near Bangalapudur, leaving his family members in shock.

Speaking to indianexpress.com, Inspector of Sathyamangalam police station A Napolean said it all happened due to an uncanny resemblance between the real Moorthy and the man who had died.

The officer added, “We received a call from the family after Moorthy walked into his home. Karthi said that the dead person looked like his father and hence they had buried him. I checked the Aadhaar card of Moorthy and the person who was found dead near the bus stand and the two had similar appearances.”

He added, “They were more like twins and that led to the confusion. When I enquired with Moorthy, he said he had gone for sugarcane cutting at a town near Karnataka and the work got delayed and hence he wasn’t able to come back on time. Even Moorthy’s wife, who wept for two-three hours hugging the dead body, said she thought it was her husband and wasn’t able to make out any difference.”

The inspector added that Moorthy didn’t have any mobile phone nor did anyone accompany him to work. The police later on conducted another post-mortem on the body in the presence of the tahsildar and collected samples. They also issued notices to the nearby towns and hilly areas to contact them in case any of their friends or family members were missing.