VILLUPURAM: A 70-year-old labourer, who went missing 10 months ago and was believed to be dead and cremated, surfaced at his house near Ulundurpet on Wednesday night, shocking everyone in his family and neighbours and creating a flutter in the locality.
According to sources, Kaliyan (70), the labourer of Samuthirakulam village, had a dispute three years ago with his three sons,Shanmugam, Murugan, and Kathavarayan, and left the house without informing them. The sons had since been searching for him and lodged a complaint at the Ulundurpet police station.
On August 28, 2014, Ulundurpet police found a body on the roadside and sent it to the government medical college hospital for an autopsy. As they suspected that it might be Kaliyan, they informed his sons, who came to the hospital and confirmed it was their father. As the autopsy report said that Kaliyan had died of old age, the body was handed over to his sons, who performed a funeral and buried it in a graveyard near the village, thinking it was his father.
But, to everyone’s surprise, Kaliyan came to his house on Wednesday night. His family could not believe their eyes. Some of the villagers, who saw Kaliyan on the street, were scared out of their wits, and ran away thinking that it was Kaliyan’s ghost.
Kaliyan was also shocked to find out that he was ‘dead’ and ‘buried’.
Explaining what happened, Kalian said that after leaving home, he had gone to Cuddalore and stayed in an ashram there. Later, a person took him to Panruti to work on a sugarcane farm. A few days ago, some policemen inquired with him on suspicion and Kaliyan told them everything and the police helped him reach his native village.
While Kaliyan’s family was happy, some of the villagers are yet to believe that he is still alive.
A police source said that since the body found on the roadside was in a decomposed state, Kaliyan’s sons might have mistaken it to be Kaliyan. Now the police are inquiring to find out who actually the ‘dead’ man was. The incident created a flutter in Ulundurpet area on Tuesday night as people from nearby village started coming to Samuthirakulam to meet Kaliyan.