'Dead' woman returns home after family cremated 'her' remains

Naina Rani's family peformed her last rites ritual, assuming she was dead, only for her to show up a few days later. Photo / 123RF

Presuming their daughter was dead, Naina Rani's family performed her last rites.

Four days later, the family as relieved to see her return home, but now police are trying to determine whose remains were cremated.

The remains of a 20-year-old woman were discovered by a local farmer, on 11 December, according to The Times of India.

The body was mutilated and in a bag left on Jiwan Singh's property in Patiala, India. Upon making the shocking discovery, Singh informed the local police.

Naina Rani, 26, disappeared from her home on December 8. Police believed she may have ran off and eloped with her paramour, a man from her village. Police then speculated that the man she disappeared with may have killed her.

The body found was also of a woman in her 20s, local police then appealed to the public to help identify the remains.

Naina's family claimed the body and took possession of the remains on 14 December, a day later the body was cremated and the family performed her last rites.

According to the Hindustan Times, Naina's parents were unable to confirm the body belonged to their daughter based on the remains, given the face was mutilated, but identified the remains based off the jewellery found on the body. Naina's husband was with her parents when they identified the body.

Following the cremation, Naina resurfaced with the man she disappeared with, which meant police were back to square one.

Sadar police SHO Jaswinder Singh Tiwana said police did have records from the autopsy and DNA will now be used in hopes of identifying the woman.

Regardless, the body would have been cremated, as it is police protocol with unidentified bodies.

Police said the victim was strangled, as marks on her neck indicated such and she was attacked with a sharp-edged weapon. However it appears the woman was not killed where the body was discovered; Singh's farm was only used as a dumping ground.

As well as circulating a photo of the woman's remains and details of additional marks to all police stations in the state, police are putting together a list of all the women who have gone missing in the area recently.