Relatives who came to collect the dead body of an 88-year-old woman named Shoshamma at a private hospital in Kanjirapally in Kerala's Kottayam district were left aghast on Thursday, November 9, after they were handed the body of another woman. They soon found out that the hospital authorities had committed a massive folly, by handing over Shoshamma’s body to the relatives of a similar aged woman Kamalakshi Amma, whose body was also kept in the same mortuary as Shoshamma.

The situation escalated to a fight after it was revealed that Kamalakshi Amma’s relatives had already carried out the cremation as per Hindu rituals, by placing Shoshamma’s body on the pyre. Eventually, the police had to arrive to calm down the tempers, and after a long discussion it was agreed upon that the mortal remains of Shoshamma, who was already cremated, would be handed back to her relatives.

The relatives of Kamalakshi Amma took her body to be cremated, and Shoshamma’s mortal remains would be buried as per a Christian ceremony later on Thursday.