Missing Ahmedabad Share Broker Returns Home After Family Cremates Wrong Body

After missing over three weeks, 43-year-old Ahmedabad share dealer Brijesh Suthar returned home on November 15 in an amazing turn of events from an already tense and dramatic narrative. Especially since they had previously experienced the sorrow of identifying and cremating what they thought was his body, his surprise return left his family reeling with a mix of astonishment, relief, and uncertainty.

From Vijapur in Mehsana, Suthar vanished from his house in the Hanspura neighbourhood of Naroda on October 27. Knowing the financial strain he was under—including claimed harassment from a nearby moneylender—his family was immediately worried. The family feared the worst since the increasing tension seemed to point to a sad result.

The situation become much more concerning as the days went without any indication of Suthar. His family made the vital step of reporting a missing person to the Naroda police on November 6. Tragic news of a mangled body floating in the Sabarmati River surfaced about the same time. The Sabarmati Riverfront (West) police registered the matter as an accidental death as there was no identifying information on the body.

Soon after the body was discovered, Suthar's family was notified and, in their state of grief, they recognised the body as their missing relative. On November 10 the body was cremated; on November 14 their house in Vijapur hosted a condolence ritual known as "besna."

But on November 15 Brijesh Suthar unexpectedly returned to his Vijapur house just as the family was starting to accept their loss. Everyone, including his mother Ansuya Suthar, who had just buried what she thought to be her son, was utterly shocked by his return. Emotion-driven, Brijesh and his mother went straight to the Naroda police station to say he was alive, effectively closing the missing person case.

Although the Suthar family is happy to have Brijesh back, they are left with a disturbing riddle: whose body did they really cremate? Particularly in situations when there is no unambiguous identification, this perplexing subject has generated serious worries regarding how such body identification procedures are handled. Though no details have been made public yet, police detectives are currently concentrating on locating the body taken from the Sabarmati River.

The case has shown the possibility of mistakes in body identification, which reminds us of the importance of more extensive research especially in cases of uncertainty or contradicting data. Although local authorities—including Inspector M.V. Patel of the Sabarmati riverside (West) police—have not yet spoken on the matter—it is abundantly evident that the circumstances surrounding the body's discovery are now under more close examination.

The Suthar family is left wondering whose life was lost and why it seems to be so closely linked to their own tragedy, even if Brijesh's safe return brings some consolation. The community is still restless for answers as police probe.

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