September 20, 2026 06:13 pm (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Arvind Kejriwal, family ‘missing’ from Delhi voter list, claims Aam Aadmi Party | ‘No UPI above ₹2,000?’ Ghaziabad traders put up ‘cash only’ hoardings | Trump signs Russia sanctions bill: India faces fresh 100% tariff threat over Moscow oil | Caught using ChatGPT for exam answers, IIT Bombay student dies by suicide; students protest | Congress' Nandigram candidate arrested after Mamata's support amid TMC symbol row; Bengal bypoll gets chaotic | Gurugram murder shocker: Groom-to-be leaves sisters at Delhi restaurant to meet ex-colleague, found dead days later | Delhi horror: Teen allegedly gangraped, stabbed to death and dumped in field; dogs eat parts of body | TMC name, symbol frozen: EC tells rival factions to pick new identities ahead of Bengal bypolls | Married just 17 days ago: Hyderabad engineer mysteriously found dead at US home | ‘We will promote cash’: New UPI charge triggers trader backlash, Opposition protests
Ravi Kumar was found alive 20 days after his family cremated a burnt body they had mistaken for him. Photo: X/videograb

Punjab family cremates ‘missing’ son, then finds him alive in jail 20 days later

| @indiablooms | Sep 06, 2026, at 12:55 pm

A family in Punjab’s Kapurthala went through an unimaginable emotional rollercoaster after cremating a body they believed belonged to their missing son—only to discover nearly three weeks later that he was alive and lodged in jail.

The family had been searching for Ravi Kumar after he went missing from home on August 5.

His father and brother said they looked for him in several places but were unable to find any trace of him.

With no leads, the family approached Kapurthala City Police Station on August 11 and filed a missing person report.

Burnt body found, family identifies it as Ravi

Around the same time, police informed the family that a burnt body of a young man had been recovered.

Family members were shown photographs of the body and, a few days later, identified it as Ravi Kumar.

Believing they had finally found their missing son—dead—the family performed his last rites and cremated the body on August 13.

The tragedy appeared to have brought a devastating end to their search.

Jail call turns grief into shock

But on September 2, the family received a phone call that completely overturned what they believed had happened.

An employee of the Central Jail in Kapurthala contacted them and informed them that a man named Ravi Kumar was lodged there.

The revelation left the family stunned. The man they had mourned and cremated weeks earlier was apparently alive.

Ravi found alive behind bars

The following day, family members rushed to the Central Jail to verify the information.

To their astonishment and relief, they found Ravi Kumar alive.

According to preliminary information, Ravi had been arrested by Jalandhar Police around a month earlier in connection with a loitering-related case and was subsequently lodged at the Kapurthala Central Jail.

The family, who had believed they had performed their son’s final rites, were left overjoyed after being reunited with him.

The circumstances surrounding the mistaken identification of the burnt body remain unclear, and further investigation is expected to establish how the mix-up occurred.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.