A 60-year-old man living alone in rural Patna passed away at his house with no relatives or money in the house. As his neighbours looked to cremate the body, they found some money parked in his bank account. The neighbours then took the body to the local bank to ask for money for the funeral.
According to a report in The Times of India, Mahesh Yadav was suffering from a prolonged illness and passed away at his residence in Singriyawan. Mahesh, who was a daily wage earner, died in his sleep on Tuesday.
The villagers who searched his home for valuables to pay for his funeral found nothing but his bank passbook that showed he had ₹1,17,298.28 in his account.
That afternoon, they took his body along with the passbook to his bank. They refused to leave until the branch manager released his funds, local police officer Amrendar Kumar said.
“Villagers demanded the bank gave them money from his account for the cremation or else they would not cremate him,” said Kumar. “It put pressure on the bank, which finally released some money following the intervention of the local police station,” added Kumar.
Canara Bank’s branch manager Sanjeev Kumar said the extraordinary scenes created panic.
“It was first such case,” Sanjeev said. “After over an hour, I gave them money, around ₹9900, and they finally left the bank with his body for the cremation ground,” Sanjeev added.
Mahesh Yadav’s neighbours said that he did not own any land or receive any support from the government. “There was no one to look after him although he had been ailing for months. We used to provide him cooked food and other things,” a neighbour said.
