Indian student 'burned alive on pyre after wrongly being pronounced dead'

A student who was pronounced dead in hospital may actually have been alive at the time and only later burned to death on a funeral pyre, Indianpolice say.

The family of Rachna Sisodia, 21, have alleged her partner, Devesh Chaudhary, 23, raped and murdered her.

She was reportedly admitted to Sharda University Hospital in Noida, Uttar Pradesh on 23 February with a respiratory condition, causing feverish symptoms and abdominal pain.

Doctors announced her death shortly before midnight on 25 February, the Times of Indiareported.

Four teenage girls held in France as attack plot suspects

Ms Sisodia’s body was released to her husband, who carried out a traditional cremation with a small group of his own friends and family.

But when Ms Sisodia’s family became aware of this, they became suspicious and contacted the police, who interrupted the cremation and pulled the body from the pyre.

The corpse which was more than 70 per cent burned was turned over to forensic investigators, who found ash in the lungs and windpipe and concluded she wasn't dead as her body was being cremated.