By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A 25-year-old Indian national, Rohitash Kumar certified to have passed away by doctors has shocked mourners after he woke on a funeral pyre, before it was time to set him on fire according to Hindu rites.
Medical officials on Saturday said doctors had skipped a postmortem after pronouncing Kumar dead.
Kumar who had speaking and hearing difficulties, had fallen sick and was taken to a hospital in Jhunjhunu in the western state of Rajasthan on Thursday.
Indian media reported he had had an epileptic seizure, and a doctor declared him dead upon arrival at the medical facility.
But instead of the mandatory postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, a doctor sent him to the mortuary, and then to be burned in line with the customs.
A doctor had “prepared the postmortem report without actually doing the postmortem, and the body was then sent for cremation”, chief medical officer of the hospital told AFP.
The chief medical officer said that “shortly before the pyre was to be lit, Kumar’s body started movements”, adding that “he was alive and was breathing”.
Kumar was rushed to the hospital for a second time, but was confirmed dead on Friday during treatment.
Authorities have suspended the services of three doctors in connection with the development and the police have launched an investigation.
