Jaipur, Sep 6 (IANS): A silly mistake by a courier company has left the family members of a deceased shocked as they received an unidentified body in the coffin while waiting to perform the last rites for their deceased family member.

Seetaram Purohit, a resident of Shri Dungargarh in Bikaner, passed away after suffering a heart attack in Mumbai on Wednesday. His family members travelled to Bikaner in a plane along with his body, which had been packed in a coffin by a courier company, people with knowledge of the incident said.

On arriving back home on Thursday morning, the family was shocked to see an unknown body, and contacted the courier which had booked the coffin on the flight.

Accepting their fault, the company said that the body, which had got exchanged with that of late Prakash Kumar (35), a resident of Odisha's Jajpur district, had arrived in Bhubaneshwar and they promised to restitute Purohit's body soon.

Kumar's body was sent to Bhubaneshwar on Thursday afternoon, while Purohit's body was delivered in Jaipur, from where it was shifted to Shri Dungargarh in an ambulance.

Purohit's last rites were performed on Friday.