They informed that the man, identified as Vimlesh Dixit, was an Income Tax department employee. The family was reluctant to cremate the man's body even after the incident came to light.
Kanpur police, in an official statement, said that the man's death certificate issued by a private hospital stated that he died due to sudden cardiac respiratory syndrome on April 22, 2021.
The officials also informed that the man's wife appears to be mentally unstable and used to sprinkle 'gangajal' on her husband's highly decomposed body every morning, hoping that it would help him come out of the coma.
"Dixit worked in the Income Tax department and died in April last year. His family refused to perform his last rites because they believed he was in come," Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Alok Ranjan told PTI.
He said the Kanpur police officials requested that the matter be investigated as the family pension files hadn't moved an inch.
Dr Ranjan said that when a team of health officials, police personnel, and the magistrate reached Dixit's home in the Rawatpur area on Friday, his family members said that he was still alive and in a come.
Later, the family members allowed the health team to take the body to Lala Lajpat Rai (LLR) Hospital after much persuasion and the medical tests declared him dead.
A three-member team has been constituted to look into the matter thoroughly and asked to submit its findings at the earliest, the medical officer said as quoted by PTI.
An official on condition of anonymity revealed that Dixit's family had also told their neighbors that he was in a coma and his wife appears to be mentally unstable. Neighbors told police that the family members were often seen taking oxygen cylinders home.
(With PTI inputs)
