Assam man's newspaper ad about his "lost death certificate" goes viral, poses several questions

Assam: If you threw a digital stone on the internet, it would likely hit a wildly bizarre piece of content somewhere but a seemingly-inexplicable mystery involves a newspaper advertisement by a man about a “lost death certificate” in Assam and has the internet in disbelief - never mind, asking questions.

Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rupin Sharma, in a Twitter post, shared a picture of the Lost and Found ad easily mistakable for a typographical error.

"I have lost my death certificate at Lumding Bazar (in Assam) dated 07/09/22, morning time near about 10 am," Ranjit Kumar Chakraborty states in the ad, besides detailing the registration as well as serial number of the missing document.

Millions in Assam find themselves in a vicious circle of



bureaucracy having lost their proof of residency to floods but losing a document issued after their death is certainly not a widespread concern in the state.

And that’s what makes this curious case a paradox. While it remains to be whether or not the newspaper ad was a gag, it did manage to get a (morbid) laugh online by the statement’s sheer absurdity.

“If found where the certificate has to be delivered - heaven or hell?,” a tongue-in-cheek comment asked.

Several wondered how the publisher cleared the ad in the first place.

Last month, a Rajasthan-based textile company accidentally declared in a corporate filing that it was “pleased to inform” that their promoter had died.

Soon after, the firm was trolled for blindly using older templates.