Probe launched into issuance of living man’s death certificate

The local nagar panchayat and police in Patna have initiated a preliminary inquiry to examine the circumstances in which a death certificate was issued in the name of Sanjay Kumar 44 a mentally ill man who had gone missing four years agomidday in its article lsquoMentally ill homeless man lsquoreturns from deadrsquorsquo dated November 2 had highlighted how Sanjay was ultimately reunited with his kin The man who had been found loitering in Kerala was sent by a rehabilitation centre at Kasaragod to the Shraddha Rehabilitation Centre at Karjat a few months ago In June 2020 the local police handed over a body of an accident victim which was later crematedmidday spoke to the staff at Nagar Parishad Danapur Nizamat Patna where the death certificate was issued and a senior cop of Patna district on the matterManoranjan Kumar an assistant at the death and birth department at Nagar Parishad Danapur Nizamat said ldquoIn my five years of service I have never heard of such a case We are checking our records and will discuss the matter with our superiors As per their direction we will take the next steprdquoAsked if they have the power to cancel the death certificate Manoranjan said ldquoUsually the cancellation procedure is lengthy and done through court directives In this case we will have to first obtain the original death certificate that was issued to the family on June 10 2020 As per our standard operating procedure a death certificate is only issued after having relevant documents from the next of kin including a written applicationrdquoManavjeet Singh Dhillon senior superintendent of police Patna said ldquoUsually a local committee or panchayat writes to the authorities concerned nagar parishad or municipal council or municipality informing them about the person being alive and by following due process of law the death certificate can be cancelled Usually a death certificate is issued on basis of a hospital or doctors cause of death certificate and the cremation receipt Some people perform the last rites on river banks near a ghat and in such cases they produce a ghat receipt on the basis of which entries are made in the death register and accordingly a death certificate is issuedrdquoAlso read Mentally ill homeless man lsquoreturns from deadrsquoAsked about the identity of the person cremated in 2020 Dhillon said ldquoWe will inquire into the matter The area where the family resides comes under the Digha police station As COVID protocols were being strictly adhered to during the said period June 2020 there were restrictions even on cremation and last rites The probability of mistaken identity while handing over the body cannot be ruled out We will also check if the next of kin had claimed the government compensation of 2 lakh which was announced during the COVID period by the state governmentrdquoSanjays father Nand Lal Sav said the family neither claimed nor received compensation after June 2020 ldquoAs COVID restrictions were in place we were informed by the local Digha police about a dead body resembling and matching the description of Sanjay We presumed it to be our Sanjays body and did the final ritesrdquo he saidHe added ldquoHe Sanjay has been very silent since he has returned though he is smiling and remembers everyone We are not taxing him by asking unsolicited questions Also we do not keep him unaccompanied Someone or the other from the family is always with him even if he steps out and during the nighttimerdquo Asked if the family informed the local police about Sanjays return he replied in the negativeMeanwhile inspector Manoj Singh who was in charge of Digha police station in 2020 told midday ldquoI was recently transferred out of Digha police station but I do not remember this particular case as it is two years old The family of the person who has returned home alive will need to approach the local police and complete the procedure for cancellation of the death certificate If needed the police may reopen the old case and will have to establish the identity of the deceased who was cremated The police may have taken photographs of the dead body found then and may need to check the case recordrdquo