Agartala, June 8: 22-year-old Akash Sarkar returned home in Tripura on Tuesday after he went missing last month to find that his post-death rituals were underway.

Sarkar is a resident of Kalibazar of Mohanpur subdivision, and had gone missing last month.

On June 3, a body was found floating in a lake near Melarmath under West Agartala police station. After the initial inquiry, it was found that the deceased was a resident of Kalibazar, who went missing last month. Accordingly, the police contacted Akash Sarkar’s family informing them about the recovery of his body.

“Akash’s father, Pranab Sarkar, rushed to GBP hospital and he identified his son’s body after seeing his bag, containing his trousers and tablets,” Mohanpur Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) K B Majumder said.

The mortal remains were handed over to Pranab Sarkar after conducting an autopsy, and his funeral was performed by family members.

“Since it was a case of mistaken identity, we will investigate the matter and do the needful”, the police officer said.

The father, however, claimed that it was the police who had pressurised him to identify his son’s body and take it for disposal. “I repeatedly told the police that my missing son’s appearance did not match with the body fished out from the lake. The cops insisted that due to drowning, the body had swollen. Indeed, the bag containing tablets and the trousers which were found with the body were those of my son but he was not so healthy,” he claimed.

Akash said he has been residing near Battala Bridge and recently he had met one of his sisters there. “Today, she called up and I returned home and was surprised to witness the ‘shraddh’ ceremony underway,” he said.