'Dead' man turns up for his funeral

SHILLONG: A case of mistaken identity prompted a family in Meghalaya to organise the funeral of a man they had presumed dead, but the twist in the tale came when he turned up for his own "funeral".

The real-life drama unfolded at Umkdait village on the outskirts of Meghalaya's capital on Saturday, police said.

A woman named Bold Kharjana lodged a complaint with the Nongmyngsong police outpost that her husband Frankie Synnah, 49, a resident of Umkdait and an employee of the Survey of India, had been missing since December 27.

Acting on Kharjana's report, police informed the family that a body resembling her husband had been found in the Garikhana area of the city and kept at the morgue of the Civil Hospital for identification. Synnah's brother and nephew rushed to the hospital and identified the body as that of their missing relative.

Police said Synnah's kin bought a coffin for Rs 8,000 and took the body home for burial. As Kharjana and her relatives broke down in grief, a dumbfounded Synnah appeared at his own "funeral" to everybody's joy, they said.

The news of Synnah's appearance spread like wildfire and villagers flocked to the family's home.

Synnah, the father of seven children, told police he had gone to Guwahati for some work on December 27 and stayed there with his friend. On reaching Guwahati, he tried to contact his home on telephone but could not get through.

Notwithstanding the money spent on the funeral, Synnah's wife said she was "the happiest person in the world" to have her husband back home.

The comedy of errors ended with the family returning the body to the Civil Hospital.