Alipurduar, Jan. 3: The body of a baby was dug out today after a woman convinced the parents that she would bring it back to life.

Two-and-a-half-month-old Ajoy Sahu was admitted to Alipurduar Hospital with fever yesterday morning. He died a few hours later.

The Sahus buried the body near the house at Khato Para, 12km from here.

This morning, Kalpana Das an aunt of Ajoy’s, arrived at the Sahu household and claimed that she could make the dead boy alive. With the help of local people, she disinterred the body and started performing a “puja”.

As a large crowd gathered to see what was going on, somebody informed Samuktala police. They arrived at 12 noon. Kalpana escaped and the police asked the family to bury the body again.

Mithalal Sahu, Ajoy’s father, said he had realised at the end of two hours that his son would not be alive again. “It is then that the police arrived.”

Basudev Sarkar, the officer in charge of Samuktala police station, said there were no complaints against Kalpana. “She fled. We had checked the death certificate found it ok.”