Man presumed dead after misidentification found alive before burial in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: A peculiar case of a son misidentifying a body as that of his father and almost leading up to the burial of the body has ruffled a few feathers among his relatives and villagers of Pethanaickanur near Anaimalai.

Kalidas, 38, of Pethanaickanur near Anaimalai, had been searching for his missing father, Marudhamuthu, 63, since a fortnight ago.

On March 6, an unidentified elderly man was admitted to the Pollachi Government Hospital after he fell unconscious near Thensangampalayam. He was shifted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) the same day. However, without responding to the treatment, the man died on March 7. Since there was no one to claim the body, CMCH officials informed the Kotur police.

On learning that Kalidas was searching for his father, he was asked by Kotur police to identify if the body of the elderly man was that of his father. A police officer said, "Kalidas confirmed that the deceased elderly man was his father. The family requested not to conduct a postmortem and took the body for the funeral to Pollachi."

On Monday, just minutes before burying the body, one of Kalidas's relatives intervened, showing a video of his father walking alive in a neighbouring area. Immediately, they brought Marudhamuthu home and returned the dead body to CMCH on Monday evening.

The incident went viral on social media accusing the CMCH of handing over the elderly man's body to wrong people. Refuting the allegations, B Saravanapriya, Resident Medical Officer at CMCH, said, "The hospital management handed over the body only after his own son identified the body as his father. As the family requested not to conduct a postmortem, we took a written statement from the son and family members. Since the body has been handed back to CMCH, police have initiated a probe to identity the body."