An 18-year-old man from Chandigarh was found alive, minutes before the wrongly identified body thought to be him could be cremated by his kin.

New Delhi: In a case of mistaken identity, in this case that of a dead person, a ‘missing’ youth from Chandigarh was found to be alive by the police, minutes ahead of his planned cremation by his kin who believed him to be dead after mistaking him for a wrongly identified headless dead body.

“An 18-year-old believed to be dead by his family was found to be alive by the police just in time, before the wrongly identified body thought to be him could be cremated by his kin,” officials said.

Giving details, a senior official said, two youths, both 18-years-old, had eloped from their native Chandigarh and the girl’s family had filed complaint against the boy, accusing him of abducting their daughter.

“Later on September 9, a headless body was found in a drain in Meerut district and the family of Moanti wrongly identified it as his body,” SHO Akhil Choudhry told reporters, according to news agency PTI.

The officer said the family had also claimed that it was a murder and demanded an investigation.

The headless body had a tattoo resembling Moanti’s, due to which the family misidentified it, police said.

It was when Moanti’s family was preparing for cremation on Thursday, police traced him in Chandigarh where he was living with the woman, the SHO said.

Moanti was a resident of Nona village in Mansurpur police station area.

Choudhry said the wrongly identified body has been returned to Meerut police. The woman has been sent for a medical examination and she will also be produced before a magistrate for recording her statement, the SHO added.

(With PTI inputs)