Guwahati, June 30: Grief turned first to amazement and then to anger as the congregation realised that the body they were preparing for janaja was not of the person they had thought to be - their relative Imran Ali.

Recognition dawned when the body was being washed yesterday afternoon.

Hitler Ali, who was giving the body a wash, noted that something was amiss. He then informed the other relatives as all hell broke loose.

Imran, a suspected drug addict of Dampur village in Kamrup district's Hajo area, was found with high fever by local residents near Akbar Ali Lower Primary School on Monday.

Seeing his condition, they called an ambulance, which took him to Sualkuchi hospital. The hospital then forwarded him to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) where he was declared brought dead.

"I was so distraught that I really didn't see the face of the body while bringing it from GMCH. After Hitler told us, we checked and I realised that we were given the wrong body," said Nur Islam, uncle of the 20-year-old Imran.

Nur Islam received the body from GMCH yesterday morning and on finding out that he was given the wrong body, returned with the body from Dampur, 35km from Guwahati, and reached here last night.

GMCH authorities today confirmed that the body delivered to Nur Islam was that of an unidentified person, which was forwarded to the hospital by Jalukbari police on Sunday.

"The body was found at the foot of Nilachal Hills and was forwarded by the police to us. The police suspect that he was one of the devotees at Kamakhya as the Ambubachi mela ended a day before the body was delivered to us. We conducted the autopsy of the body accordingly and kept it in the morgue as per our regulation," said an official of GMCH.

The rule is that an unidentified body needs to be kept at the morgue for 72 hours so that the relatives show up to identify the body.

"If no one shows up, we conduct the last rites based on the person's religion," said GMCH superintendent Babul Kumar Bezbaruah.

He said, Rafiqul Ali, who was on duty, could have made the mistake. "Ali's body was number 12 while the unidentified body was number nine. Instead of delivering 12, he delivered the nine," said Bezbaruah.

The family members of Imran also alleged that Rafiqul, who they claim is from Dampur, had demanded Rs 2,000 to dispatch the body.

"The hospital will take disciplinary action against Rafiqul and we will investigate the matter," said Bezbaruah. He said Imran's body would be dispatched tonight after conducting the post-mortem.

The unidentified body has been cremated.