An Indian woman was burnt to death in a funeral pyre, hours after doctors had pronounced her dead, it has been claimed.
Doctors said the 24-year-old, Rachna Sisodia, had died of a lung infection at Sharda hospital in Greater Noida, in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state.
Her husband, Devesh Chaudhary, 23, took possession of her body at 1.27am and drove with it and some friends to a funeral pyre location in Aligarh, two hours away, where at 8am they began to cremate her.
But there are reports that somebody then dragged the woman off the funeral pyre, believing her to be still alive.
She showed no signs of life thereafter, but a post-mortem examination showed charred particles in her windpipe and lungs, say police, which would not have been present if she had not been breathing.
Two doctors working together said the cause of death was not lung infection but in fact “shock caused by being burnt alive”.
Rajesh Pandey, a senior police superintendent, told local media of the doctors’ verdict.
A police spokesman added: “This happens when someone is burnt alive. The particles go inside with the breath. If a person is dead, such particles cannot reach the lungs and the windpipe. So, the doctors concluded that the woman was burnt alive on the pyre.”
The victim and her husband. 