Hyderabad: In a shocking incident, a family was forced to exhume and re-bury the body of a relative just days after his burial at the Hazrat Syed Shah Meeran Hussaini Qadri Graveyard in Langar Houz.
The deceased, 64-year-old Tahir Bin Salhe, was buried on the evening of November 4 after his family identified a vacant plot within the graveyard. However, when they returned on November 7 to perform post-burial rituals, they were confronted by a group claiming that the grave in which Tahir was buried belonged to their grandfather, who had been interred there in the 1980s.
The family alleged that they were threatened and pressured to remove the body and shift it elsewhere. “There was no nameplate on the grave, yet they forced us to exhume the body,” said Altamash, a relative of the deceased. “We approached the Langar Houz police as the group insisted the spot belonged to their family. Under pressure, we were forced to compromise and re-bury the body about five metres away from the original place.”
Altamash urged the Waqf Board to ensure that such incidents do not recur and to monitor the management of graveyards more closely.
A Waqf Board inspector, who visited the graveyard on the directions of the Board’s CEO, said, “I went there to ensure the grave remained undisturbed. However, the other party claimed their relative had been buried in the same spot and wanted the place due to a family emergency.”
Both parties later approached the police. Following a written settlement, the body was exhumed and re-buried at a different location within the graveyard.
Local residents blamed the Waqf Board, community leaders and Dargah management for the dispute, saying they had failed to maintain proper records and protect the graveyard from encroachments.
