A phone call by a 'dead' youth to his friend in nick of time avoided an unpleasant situation from unfolding as his parents were supposed to cremate a body assuming it to be of their mission son.
Pola Anil (25), son of Pola Lakshminarayana and Lakshmi, had been missing from last week, prompting them to file a case with Mattewada police on Tuesday.
A pall of gloom descended on the family when police called them up to mortuary of a hospital to identify an unknown body suspecting it to be of Anil's.
With Anil's parents identifying the body as that of their son, police handed it over to them.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered outside the residence of Lakshminarayana in Yellamma Bazar area for the last rites of the youth who police said had died in railway accident.
Anil's friend Suresh was about to leave his residence for the funeral when he received a call from 'Anil' that left him shell-shocked.
As Suresh narrated the incident to the grief-stricken parents and connected them with Anil who said he was in Warangal and returning home, the despair gave way to jubilation.
The parents rushed to the police station and handed over the body to them.
According to Laxminarayana, Anil told Suresh that he had left his home due to some "personal problems".
