THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Neyyattinkara police on Sunday received an order from the revenue divisional officer’s (RDO) office to exhume the body of Gopan Swami, who was buried under mysterious circumstances, for a postmortem on Monday. The site where, according to his family, he attained ‘samadhi’ will be excavated in the presence of the RDO.
Meanwhile, police are investigating the conflicting statements of family members. At the time of Gopan’s death, his son, Rajasenan, was reportedly the only one present. Rajasenan claimed that his father sat in lotus (padmasana) pose in the specially designed burial crypt, saying it was ‘time for his samadhi’.
He added that his father walked to the chamber in the morning and that Rajasenan performed the rituals till 3 am. The second son, Sananthan, however, said Gopan was bathed after his death and then taken to the ‘samadhi’ site.
A close relative who visited the house at 10.30 am on Thursday testified that Gopan was bedridden and critically ill at the time and that he wouldn’t be able to walk to the burial site.
Villagers came to know of the incident when posters announcing ‘Gopan Swami has attained samadhi’ were put up near his house. According to the deceased’s wife Sulochana and children, Gopan had instructed that his body not be shown to anyone outside the family and that he should be buried in the chamber to reach the divine after death.
Police have registered a man-missing case and are planning to exhume the body for further investigation. A request for a postmortem, in case the body is traced, has also been placed. The case was initiated following the complaint by a neighbour.