A Bengal prince was cremated in 1909, a holy man claimed to be him, and the Privy Council confirmed it in 1946; he died two days later

The Bhawal estate was the second largest zamindari in Dhaka district. Ramendra Narayan Roy, the second of three brothers, held a one-third share. In April 1909 he went to Darjeeling with his wife Bibhabati Devi. On 8 May he was reported dead, by her account of tertiary syphilis, and cremated the next morning. Witnesses later said a storm interrupted the cremation. Bibhabati held his share from 1909. In 1920 or 1921 a sannyasi (ascetic) appeared in Dhaka and was accepted by relatives and tenants as the prince. He said ascetics had rescued him from the pyre. A forensic report found 19 of 21 physical marks matched. Bibhabati called him an impostor and never met him. He sued in Dhaka in 1930. After a trial of 608 days, Judge Panna Lal Basu ruled on 24 August 1936 that he was the prince. The Calcutta High Court dismissed the widow's appeal on 25 November 1940, with Justice Lodge dissenting. On 30 July 1946 the Privy Council dismissed her final appeal. It held that a widow's possession under a mistaken belief in her husband's death was not adverse to the living husband. Two days later he had a stroke and died. Bibhabati regarded his death as punishment for imposture and refused Rs 800,000 from the estate^†.