Kerala Police Exhume Body of 'Entombed' Man for Probe

The Kerala police on Thursday broke open a stone crypt and exhumed the remains of a man who was alleged by his family to have died after "attaining samadhi" near his home in Neyyattinkara near Thiruvananthapuram, officers said.

- Vishnu Varma

KOCHI:

While the remains, found in an early stage of decomposition, were confirmed to be of self-styled seer named Gopan, they were sent for autopsy at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital to ascertain the exact cause and time of death, an officer said.

The row broke out on January 9 when the locals in Kavuvilakam noticed a poster on a wall stating that Gopan, a self-styled "acharya guru" of his family temple, attained "samadhi" that day under a tree beside his home. "Samadhi" as per Hindu and Buddhist beliefs refers to attaining "spiritual liberation" and in this case, death through meditation.