Declared Dead, Cremated Then Found Alive After 3 Weeks: UP Police Reopen Murder Case

Nearly three weeks after police cremated an unidentified body, believing it to be that of Sushil Kumar, they found the 44-year-old walking through a busy crossing in Sambhal, alive - and confused.

Nearly three weeks after police cremated what they believed was the body of Sushil Kumar, the case took a bizarre turn. The 44-year-old man, officially declared murdered was found alive wandering through a crowded crossing in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal, disoriented and confused.

The discovery forced police to reopen a murder investigation they believed had already been closed. The officers scrambled to identify the real victim - an unknown man whose body had been cremated after being wrongly identified based on a tattoo and physical resemblance.

Kumar, a small-time offender with a history of petty thefts across Sambhal and railway routes, had long been estranged from his family. He had not been in touch with them for years. When an unidentified body with a crushed skull and signs of brutal assault was found by the roadside in Narayan Tola, Bahjoi, on December 24, police summoned his two brothers from Delhi and Kashi in Uttarakhand.

With no fingerprints, DNA match, or identification documents available, the investigation hinged entirely on visual confirmation. The brothers identified the body as Kumar’s, citing a familiar tattoo, similar build, and facial features. A bag found near the corpse yielded no clues. Based on this identification, police registered the case as murder, conducted a postmortem, and cremated the body.

Then came the tip-off that blew the case wide open.

During questioning, one of Kumar’s former associates told investigators he had seen Kumar alive after December 24. Days later, he brought Kumar directly to the police.

"The resemblance was so close even we wouldn't have doubted the brothers' claim," Bahjoi SHO Sant Kumar said. "He looked just like the man we'd found. The tattoo, the build, everything matched."

Sambhal additional SP Anukriti Sharma said the family had initially shown little interest in pursuing the case. "They told us they had nothing to do with him anymore," she said. "Eventually, we convinced them to register a murder case, and that's how the investigation began. But now we are in a difficult position. The body is gone. We cannot even conduct a DNA test."

Kumar himself has remained silent since being found. Police confirmed he was questioned but clarified that he is not a suspect in the case. Meanwhile, his family has continued to distance itself from him, refusing any reconciliation.

"For us, he stopped to exist a long time ago," said one relative. “We want nothing to do with him.”