A man from the Kokawewa police division whose family concluded he was dead, buried a body they believed was his and completed his funeral almsgiving has returned home alive, Hiru News reported.
He had disappeared about two months ago. Because he had previously left home for a few days at a time and come back, the family did not treat the absence as unusual at first. After more than a week his wife lodged a complaint with Kokawewa Police.
How the misidentification happened
On 27 August, Kokawewa Police passed on information about a body found in a reserve within the Habarana police division — a man who had died after drinking poison. Relatives went to inspect it.
The identification rested on a single piece of evidence: the clothing on the body resembled clothes the man’s son had bought for his father for the New Year. On that basis his wife and relatives confirmed the body was his.
The body was buried in the Polonnaruwa area on 31 August, and the family performed almsgiving religious rites on 6 and 7 September, according to Hiru.
The return
The man then arrived at his sister’s house by bus. Following a telephone call about it, members of that household immediately contacted Kokawewa Police Station.
What this leaves unresolved
The report does not address the obvious consequence: an unidentified man is buried in a Polonnaruwa grave under another person’s name. Hiru does not say whether the body will be exhumed, whether DNA testing was ever conducted or will now be ordered, or whether police have reopened the question of who the dead man was and whether his own family has reported him missing.
Nor does it say whether a post-mortem was performed before burial, or how a formal identification was accepted on the strength of clothing alone.
Not reported
Hiru does not give the man’s name, age or occupation, does not say where he had been for two months or why he did not contact his family, and does not say whether he knew a funeral had been held for him. It does not record the family’s or the wife’s response, say whether the death was registered with the Registrar General, or address whether a death certificate was issued — which would have to be cancelled. No police officer is quoted, and no action against anyone is reported.
Note that this incident is distinct from a separately reported case in which a man pronounced dead in custody turned up at his own funeral house in Kohobankulama, Galgamuwa — a different district, a different cause and a different chain of events. The two should not be conflated.
No other verified newsroom had filed on the Kokawewa case at the time of writing.
