Featured Image: Sabu at Pandalam police station | Credits: Onmanorama
A Kerala man returned home after being away for months, only to send his family members into a state of confusion and complete surprise.
35-year old Sabu, son of late Kunjumon of Poozhikkad Vila in Kerala’s Kudasanad, returned home on March 26 to find that his family had believed him to be dead. Sabu’s friends and family had even attended his funeral on December 30, which was held at St. Stephen’s Orthodox Church in Kudasand.
On the morning of December 25, a man had been killed in a hit-and-run case by an unidentified vehicle at Bharanaganam’s Edappadi in Pala. Sabu’s family, who hadn’t heard from him in months, saw the photograph of the deceased in the newspapers and believed him to be Sabu. Sabu’s mother and other relatives even went to Pala to identify the body.
However, his wife suspected that the body was not that of Sabu. Her suspicions were ultimately proved right.
At 8 AM on March 26, the ‘deceased’ Sabu arrived at the Kayamkulam private bus stand to meet his friend Muraleedharan Nair, a bus driver. Nair told him that his friends and family believed him dead. Sabu said that he was working in the canteen of a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram and that he could not contact his family as his mobile phone had been damaged.
Nair soon informed Sabu’s relatives who contacted the Pandalam police station. At around 3 PM, Sabu’s friends took him from Kayamkulam to Pandalam to meet with the police officials.
Further questioning and investigation by the police revealed that Sabu had allegedly stolen ₹46,000 from his workplace, a hotel near the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. Sabu was handed over to police officials from Thiruvananthapuram for further questioning.
Efforts are on to correctly identify the body that was buried after being mis-identified as Sabu. The body will be exhumed.
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