Morang man cremated as an accident victim returns home alive months later
Padam Bahadur Raya, whose family cremated a road accident victim as him in June, came home alive at the end of Dashain. Police are now trying to identify the man who died.
A family in Letang, Morang, is facing a legal and personal puzzle after a relative they believed dead, and whose body they cremated in June, walked back into their home alive. Padam Bahadur Raya reappeared at his house in Letang Municipality-5, Kheruwa, on the evening of the full moon at the end of Dashain, October 26, Onlinekhabar and Annapurna Post reported. Both give his age as 36; Setopati gave it as 37.
A case of mistaken identity
Raya, who according to his family and local reports has long struggled with his mental health and would sometimes leave home without telling anyone, had been out of contact since the Nepali month of Magh (January–February 2026).
On Tuesday, June 9, a pedestrian was hit by a motorcycle on the Chatara-Pakali road section in Barahakshetra Municipality-4, Sunsari, according to police cited by Onlinekhabar and Annapurna Post. He died at the Birat Teaching Hospital the following day. Because he could not be identified, police kept the body in the Koshi Hospital mortuary and issued a public notice seeking his relatives. Raya's mother, saying the dead man's features matched her son's, identified the body as his. According to Onlinekhabar, his father collected the body from the mortuary on Friday, June 12, and the family cremated it at the Chisang River the same day.
Legal and financial complications
The family did not mark this year's Dashain with tika because of their grief. Raya's return has now reopened the case. According to Setopati, the family had received Rs 550,000 in accident insurance on the basis of his death. Deputy Superintendent of Police Makendra Kumar Mishra, spokesperson for the District Police Office, Morang, told Onlinekhabar that police will start the process of recovering the insurance money, correct the government records to show the body as unclaimed, and then reopen the investigation into who the accident victim really was.
Morang police chief, Superintendent of Police Kabit Katuwal, told Setopati that investigators are studying old photos and videos from the case, adding that such mistakes sometimes happen when a family identifies a body as their own. According to Annapurna Post, Katuwal said the family will be called to Koshi Hospital and the documents prepared during the identification withdrawn. Local journalist Prashant Niraula, a neighbour of the family, told Onlinekhabar that the situation could have been avoided had police carried out a DNA test before handing over the body.
Questions remaining
The family has performed a rebirth ritual to welcome Raya back home, Onlinekhabar reported. A team led by Inspector Sagar Sah of the Area Police Office, Letang, visited the house to assess the situation. Raya has told his family he had been in India, according to Annapurna Post, but where he stayed and how he got there remain unclear. The identity of the man who was cremated in June is still unknown.