PETALING JAYA, Sept 26 — Family members of a deceased man in India kept his corpse for 18 months believing that he was in coma and would come back to life.

The man passed away in April last year due to bilateral pneumonia during the second Covid-19 wave, The Indian Express reported.

Identified as Vimlesh, the man who lived in the city of Kanpur in India’s Uttar Pradesh worked as an assistant accountant. He had died in a nursing home where he was declared dead.

It was reported that Vimlesh’s wife sprinkled gangaajal (holy water) on his body in hopes that he would recover from his ‘coma’.

A senior police officer told the news portal that whenever Vimlesh’s colleague asked about his whereabouts, the family would say that he was ill.

"The family also brought in oxygen cylinders and told locals that he was in a coma and was being treated at home.

"They were convinced that he was alive and would get better,” said the senior police officer.

Meanwhile, Kanpur’s chief medical officer Alok Ranjan said that action would not be taken against the family as no crime was committed.

He asked them why they kept the body at home for so long and they said that they "felt that he was breathing” but did not give any other details.

"The family was still convinced that he was alive till his body was taken away on Friday (Sept 23) by officials.

"On Friday night, the remains of the body were cremated in the presence of police, other officials and Vimlesh’s family.

"The family members had to be convinced of the cremation,” Alok said.