MEERUT: Nearly three weeks after police cremated an unidentified body, believing it to be that of Sushil Kumar, they found the 44-year-old walking through a busy crossing in Sambhal, alive – and confused. The discovery forced police to restart a murder investigation they thought had already concluded, and left them with the task of identifying the real victim, whose body had been burned after an erroneous ID based on a tattoo and general appearance.Kumar, who had a record of petty thefts in the Sambhal region and on trains, had not been in touch with his family for years. His two brothers, summoned from Delhi and Kashi (Uttarakhand), identified the corpse found on Dec 24 by the roadside in Narayan Tola, Bahjoi, as his. The body’s skull had been crushed, and injuries suggested deliberate assault. A bag found nearby offered no clues, and with no other means to verify identity – no fingerprint or DNA match – officers relied on visual identification. The brothers recognised the tattoo, confirmed the frame and features, and police recorded the death as murder. A postmortem followed, then the cremation.What changed the direction of the case was a tip-off from one of Kumar’s former associates during questioning. He told investigators he had seen Kumar after Dec 24. The man later brought him to the police. “The resemblance was so close even we wouldn’t have doubted the brothers’ claim,” Bahjoi SHO Sant Kumar said. “He looked just like the man we’d found. The tattoo, the build – everything matched.”Sambhal additional SP Anukriti Sharma told TOI that the family had initially been reluctant to lodge an FIR. “They told us they had nothing to do with him anymore,” she said. “Eventually, we convinced them to register a murder case, and that’s how the investigation began. But now we are in a difficult position. The body is gone. We cannot even conduct a DNA test.”Kumar has not made any statements since he was found. Police confirmed he was questioned but is not a suspect. His family has continued to maintain distance. “For us, he stopped to exist a long time ago,” said one relative. “We want nothing to do with him.”