Man dies in lightning strike, relatives place body in cow dung hoping for revival

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Police had to coax and persuade relatives of a 45-year-old cattle breeder, who had died of lightning strike, to hand over the body for post-mortem examination, which was kept in the mound of cow dung out of superstition, hoping that he would come alive in Jharkhand's Latehar district, an officer said on Sunday.

Mahuadand Police Station officer-in-charge Manoj Kumar told PTI on Sunday that Ramnath Yadav, a cattle breeder and farmer in Rampur village in Mahuadand block of Latehar, had gone along with his wife, Shobha Devi, for cattle grazing on Saturday evening when lightning struck him and he collapsed at the spot.

"Relatives had rushed Yadav to the Community Health Centre (CHC) in Mahuadand for treatment, where doctors, after examining, declared him dead due to lightning. Shobha Devi was also admitted but her condition is stable. However, superstitious relatives brought back the body without informing the police from the CHC and kept it in the mound of cow dung with a belief that the effect of lightning would subside in cow dung and Yadav would be alive again," said Kumar.

"We were informed by the doctors at CHC about the body being taken by the relatives, and we went to their house and asked them to hand over the body so that it could be sent for post-mortem examination and a formal lodging of 'unnatural death' (UD) case. However, they would not relent and asked us to wait, as the dead would be alive soon," added the police officer.

Even doctors and local administration officials reached the house and tried to coax and persuade the relatives to hand over the body.

"The doctors tried to persuade the relatives that it is not possible for a dead man to come alive by any means. But they would not relent, and this continued till midnight. We had to use a bit of force, and finally they relented, and the body was sent to Latehar Sadar Hospital in the early hours of Sunday. The post-mortem will be conducted on Sunday, and thereafter we will lodge the UD case later in the day," said Kumar.

Police officers also claimed that the relatives were also told that a post-mortem was necessary to claim compensation under the disaster management rules of the state government for death due to lightning.