MAYILADUTHURAI: A range of emotions played up in Maruthur district during resident P Selvaraj’s homecoming on Saturday as the 59-year-old man, who was reported missing, was ‘identified’ dead and “cremated” only a few weeks ago. With his return, the police are reinvestigating the discovery of a body in River Cauvery which, until Saturday, was believed to be Selvaraj.
According to sources, the decomposed body of a middle-aged man in shirt and dhoti was found in the Cauvery near Mayiladuthurai on December 22. The police recovered the body with a face only “partly identifiable” and launched a probe to ascertain the identity.
The Sembanarkoil police, who registered a case, suspected the deceased to be Selvaraj as his family had lodged a complaint earlier that he went missing. The police called in his family following which his wife confirmed that the recovered body was Selvaraj’s. Following this, the police recorded it so and the body was handed over to Selvaraj’s family following an autopsy at the Mayiladuthurai general hospital, and it was cremated the next day, sources said.
Selvaraj, who returned to his shocked family members and villagers on Saturday, explained his absence to being away in Erode for work for a few days. When his family told him that they had cremated him, Selvaraj burst out in laughter and enquired jokingly whether they had finished mourning for him and where the booze was kept, sources added.
The police have reopened the case with questions over whose body was actually cremated.