After enduring eight months of heartbreak and tireless appeals, Anil Kumar of Chooralmala, Wayanad, has finally found peace. His mother, Rajamma, a victim of the 2024 Wayanad landslide, has now been reburied in a single grave, fulfilling her last wish and ending her son’s prolonged emotional agony.
Rajamma, who had previously survived landslides in 1984 and 2019, was tragically killed in the 2024 disaster. Her dismembered remains were discovered ten days apart, and due to the chaotic recovery efforts, were buried separately in graves N-34 and N-213 at the Puthumala mass grave site. Identification was only possible through DNA testing.
Anil, who lost over ten family members in the landslide, had been petitioning the district administration for months, urging them to allow a dignified reburial of his mother. “She always feared dying in a landslide and told me, ‘If anything happens to me, make sure I’m buried in one place.’ That was her only request,” he said.
On Thursday, Wayanad District Collector Meghashree D R issued a special order permitting the exhumation and reburial. The process was carried out on Friday under the supervision of the Meppadi village officer and the Tahasildar.
Now unemployed since the disaster, Anil said the knowledge of his mother’s remains lying in two graves had left him sleepless and haunted. With her now respectfully laid to rest, he finally feels a deep sense of closure.