Overview
- The 45-year-old, identified as Vishram Munda, left home to attend a wedding and was reported missing on May 10 before relatives later presumed him dead.
- Police recovered an unidentified body from a drain the next day and family members and villagers identified it at Khunti Sadar Hospital based on similar height, build and facial features.
- After legal formalities the body was handed over and buried with tribal rites, and a few days after the funeral Munda unexpectedly returned from Ramgarh about 70 kilometres away.
- Khunti police have now opened an investigation and begun exhuming the grave to collect samples for DNA testing to establish the deceased's true identity.
- Authorities say the probe will determine how the handover and burial proceeded without forensic confirmation and will aim to locate the actual next of kin of the unidentified person.