Grieving Indian American Family Receives Wrong Ashes

NEW YORK, NY— A funeral home in Long Island, New York hit with a lawsuit after giving the wrong ashes to a grieving Indian American family.

The Indian American family traveled thousands of miles to India to scatter the ashes provided by the Lake Ronkonkoma Moloney Funeral Home, only to discover the error.

Sarup Sharma’s adult children, Susan and Sunil, were given the remains of a different man with the same last name, the report said, citing the suit filed by the surviving family members.

The siblings had planned to scatter their father’s ashes along with their mother’s— who had died seven months later, in September 2017— in a traditional Hindu ceremony on the Ganga River in India, according to the lawsuit filed in Nassau County Supreme Court on August 13th.

In November, the funeral home reached out to Sharma’s kids and informed them that it had made a mistake by sending their father’s remains to the family of Shashi Sharma, who was no relation, according to the lawsuit, it added.

The funeral home apologized and is reviewing protocol to make sure the mix-up doesn’t happen again, according to spokeswoman Katherine Heaviside, the report said.

Shashi Sharma’s family made a second trip to India to scatter the true remains of their relative, according to a source. The funeral home offered to pay for it, Heaviside said.