More than five weeks after the Mundka fire tragedy claimed 27 lives in the Capital, the Delhi Police on Thursday said a victim’s body was “mistakenly” handed over to another family .
According to DCP (Outer) Sameer Sharma, one of the victims, Sweety, was wrongly identified as Ranju Devi by her husband, as both had similar identifying markers.
Santosh Kumar, 41, Ranju Devi’s husband, said he had “mistakenly” identified Sweety’s body as his wife’s. “When I looked at the body, she wore white bangles that we had got from Bihar. It is not very common in Delhi. She also had a ring on her finger similar to my wife’s,” Mr. Kumar said.
“I had performed all the final rites on May 14. It cost me around ₹35,000. I’m a labourer, I cannot afford to pay for another funeral,” Mr. Kumar added.
Mr. Kumar said that Sweety’s family members had assaulted him alleging Mr. Kumar to have identified Sweety’s body as his wife’s out of greed.
“They said I did it to claim the ex gratia amount of ₹10 lakh that the Chief Minister had announced. I lost my wife, my three children lost their mother. Our world has been turned upside down. Money doesn’t heal such wounds,” Mr. Kumar said.
