There is no third body in Vault No 38: Mystery at Kannur church cemetery ends in relief

Kannur: For 12 days, a small church cemetery in the hills of Kannur kept an entire state in suspense. It began with what appeared to be a body wrapped in a plastic mat inside a family burial vault. It spiralled into fears of a hidden crime, speculation about an unauthorised burial, police investigations, scientific examinations, and even the revival of a decade-old missing person's case.

By Tuesday noon, the mystery that had gripped Vaniyappara since June 13 ended with a collective sigh of relief. There was no third body inside Vault No 38 of the Infant Jesus Church cemetery at Vaniyappara, 2 km from the Karnataka border in Ayyankunnu grama panchayat.

When Karikottakari police opened the vault at 10.15 am in the presence of revenue authorities, forensic experts, church representatives and relatives of those buried there, they found only the remains of the two persons officially recorded as having been interred in the vault, one in 2006 and another in 2015.

The object that had triggered days of anxiety turned out to be a plastic mat believed to have been placed beneath the coffin of the person buried in 2015.

Investigators now believe that after more than a decade underground, as the coffin deteriorated and partially collapsed, the mat slipped from underneath and came to rest beside the remains, creating the impression of a separately wrapped body.

"We have not found a third body. Relatives have identified the two coffins," said Karikkottakkari Station House Officer Prashanth R N.

Forensic experts have collected samples from the remains for DNA analysis as part of further investigation, he told Onmanorama.

A discovery that sparked alarm
The story began on June 13 when church workers opened Vault No 38 to prepare for a fresh burial.

Inside, they noticed what appeared to be an object wrapped in a plastic mat lying beside one of the coffins. The sight immediately raised suspicions.

The vault's records showed only two burials: one in 2006 and another in 2015, that of James. There was no record of any subsequent interment.

The church abandoned plans to use the vault, sealed it again, and conducted the burial in the adjacent vault.

According to Fr Thomas Konnayil, the parish vicar, six people witnessed the discovery: two relatives of the deceased and four church office-bearers. Fr Konnayil was out of the station that day. "I asked them to close the slab and use another vault for the burial," he had said.

The same evening, the four church representatives approached the Karikottakari police with a complaint. On June 14, the church was given a receipt of the complaint, but the police process dragged on, and the matter remained largely confined to the parish.

Then on June 19, Jins Unnimakkal, a parish member, posted on Facebook a photograph of the vault with the plastic mat next to the broken coffin.

The case exploded into public view, with social media discussion and news media attention.

The image appeared to show a human-sized object wrapped in a plastic mat. Questions spread rapidly across WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages.

Had somebody secretly buried a body inside the church cemetery?

Who was it?

How could a body have been interred without church records?

The mystery deepened because wrapping a body in a plastic mat is not part of customary Christian burial practice in the area.

Soon, the story moved beyond village gossip.

Fr Konnayil had to come out in public to defend the church's action, saying it had already informed the police and that the investigation was ongoing.

Senior officers visited the church. Special Branch officers arrived. Discussions centred on forensic examinations, DNA testing and exhumation procedures. But the police never came close to opening the vault and ending the mystery, keeping the discussions alive on social media, news channels and newspapers.

On June 22, Karikottakari police formally registered a case and sought permission to open the vault for a scientific examination.

The FIR recorded that information was received at 6.45 pm on June 22, although church authorities said they had filed a written complaint 10 days ago on June 13, when the vault was opened. Also, social media had been buzzing since then, with mainstream media taking it up on June 19.

Mystery of the missing man
The FIR was prompted after relatives of a missing man from Kozhikode linked the plastic mat to his disappearance.

The family of Sijo Scaria, a native of Kuttiady in Kozhikode district who has been missing since 2014, began wondering whether the unidentified object in the vault could somehow be connected to his disappearance.

Sijo was married to a woman from Vaniyappara. After a disagreement with his family, he moved in with his wife. But in 2020, his family realised Sijo was neither in his wife's house nor had been in contact with his parents.

A missing person case was registered, but the investigation had yielded no answers, bringing another angle to the mystery in the vault.

A missing person case was registered, but it had not headed anywhere, which led to the mystery of the unknown mat that surfaced in Vaniyapara.

For his relatives, the opening of the grave carried both dread and hope.

Residents gathered outside the church on Tuesday, praying for one outcome. "We only pray that there should be no body," one parishioner said before the vault was opened. "And if it is a body, we hope it is not Sijo's. He is his family's hope."

The answer beneath the concrete slab
That answer finally arrived around 11 am on Tuesday.

As investigators carefully examined the vault, the feared third body never appeared. Instead, the inspection supported a far less sinister explanation.

The plastic mat, investigators believe, had originally been placed beneath the coffin of James, the person buried in 2015.

Over 11 years, the wooden coffin had deteriorated underground. As parts of it collapsed, the mat appears to have shifted and folded to one side, creating the illusion of a separate body wrapped in plastic.

The explanation resolved the central mystery.

Relief, but questions remain
While the finding ended fears of an unauthorised burial, not everyone was fully convinced. Some parishioners questioned how a mat that had allegedly been placed beneath a coffin ended up next to the remains. If it had been folded and placed underneath, they asked, how did it shift to the side and appear tied at both ends? Others said they hoped investigators would provide a more detailed explanation.

But for most residents, the overriding emotion was relief. After 12 days of speculation, suspicion and anxiety, Vault No 38 had yielded no hidden body, no crime scene and no missing man. Residents said the uncertainty need not have lasted this long had the authorities acted swiftly after the church first reported its suspicions on June 13.