Insurance Money Received, Last Rites Performed, and Then the “Dead” Son Came Home
Insurance claims took an unexpected turn after a family received a death payout and cremated a body they believed was their son’s, only for him to return weeks later.
Insurance money was received and last rites were performed, but the family was left stunned when the son declared dead returned home alive.
NEW DELHI, Insurance: A 28-year-old man from Chhattisgarh’s Balodabazar district returned home alive on August 14, 2026, weeks after his family had cremated a body they believed was his. Motilal Vishwakarma, a resident of Sukli Bareli village, walked back into his village after the family had completed his funeral and the rituals that follow a death.
The family is also reported to have received insurance money in connection with his supposed death. The reunion has brought relief, but it has left police with a pressing question: whose body was cremated in his name?
Insurance: A Missing Son and an Unidentified Body
Motilal had been missing from home since the third week of July. His relatives were still searching for him when news came that police had recovered a decomposed body near Semra Nala on July 28. The condition of the remains made identification difficult, so police sought help from people in the area. Motilal’s family went to the spot and identified the body as their missing son.
After the formalities, the body was handed over to the family. They performed the funeral according to custom and then completed the post-death rituals, including the mundan ceremony and other services. For the family, the long search had ended in the worst possible way, and they began to accept that Motilal was gone. It was during this period that the family is reported to have received insurance money linked to his death. Details such as the policy, the amount, and how the payment was made remain unclear.
Insurance: The Discovery That Changed Everything
On August 14, a man was found sitting unwell and visibly distressed near a petrol pump at Sambalpur Mor in neighbouring Dhamtari district. Members of the Vardan Parmarth Seva Samiti, including Pappu Sahu, stopped to help and contacted Shiva Pradhan of the Indian Red Cross Society. The man was taken to a nearby hospital, where Pradhan described him as being in a distressed mental state.
While efforts were made to establish his identity, documents found with him showed that he belonged to Balodabazar district. Local police were informed and traced his relatives, who were told that the man was alive. Pradhan, Pappu Sahu and Doman Sahu then escorted him to his village. Family members and neighbours were first frightened and then stunned to see him standing before them. People who had mourned him, performed his last rites and begun to move on now had him back, and the reunion ended in tears of disbelief and joy.
Questions Over Insurance, Records and the Cremated Body
The family’s relief has been followed by difficult questions. A funeral, a death record and any insurance payout all depend on a single identification made at the scene. If a payment was made on the basis of Motilal’s supposed death, the insurer and the authorities may have to review it now that he has been found alive, and official records will have to be corrected. How this will apply to Motilal’s family has not been made clear.
The larger mystery for police is the identity of the person who was cremated. It is not yet known how the identification went wrong, or whether another family is still waiting for news of a missing relative. For now, one family has its son back, while the family of the unknown dead man may not yet know what happened to their loved one.
