It is said that for each person in the world, there are six lookalikes. Devaraj of Thadithope near Kancheepuram got jolted out of his wits during the preparations for the cremation of his father that the body was of a carbon-copy double. It turned out that the real father, construction worker Ekambaram, 50, was very much alive and feasting at his sister’s house in nearby Sevilimedu.
According to police, Devaraj was informed by friends that his father was found dead by the roadside at Kamakshi Amman Colony in Orikkai near Sriperumbudur on Sunday. He rushed there and brought the body home, where the wailing family prepared for the cremation. Neighbours too arrived to console the son and fault Ekambaram for drinking himself to death — it appears the man used to drink heavily and often passed out on the street.
Even as cremation preparations were on, a relative phoned Devaraj’s aunt at Sevilimedu to tell her that her beloved brother was dead and she should rush for the cremation. “The woman was shocked because Ekambaram was at her house at that time. Devaraj rushed there and brought his father, hale and hearty, back home,” a police officer said.
He said it was only when his aunt told him that his father was very much alive and was happily sitting in front of her did Devaraj realise that he had brought home someone else’s body. Not just him, the entire neighbourhood was stunned because all of them had until then been sure they were grieving over Ekambaram’s body.
Police shifted the body to the morgue at Kancheepuram GH and alerted nearby stations.