Have you ever wondered what problems might arise once a notorious criminal is killed? Simple ceremonies like funerals become issues of political interest and controversy. There is fear of vandalism, theft of the dead bodies, public agitation at the site, and several other reasons which force the authorities for a clandestine funeral.
Adolf Hitler: The dictator from Germany who committed suicide in his own bunker after the holocaust and the World War II ordered his men to burn him with gasoline to make sure that none of his remains are available to his enemies. The men who were in charge have however failed to achieve the same.
The partially burnt body was recovered by Soviets. Stalin even used this fact to start the rumor that he was still alive in the West adding fuel to the cold war. However, his skull and jaws were later exhibited in the secret archives of Moscow.
They are currently in display at Russia's Federal Archives Service since 2000.
Remaining of his body was exhumed in 1970, and burned to ashes.
Osama bin Laden: The world's most wanted man for his 9/11 crimes has been shot at his residence in Abbotabad, Pakistan. His body however was put to rest in the sea after the Navy Seals managed to shoot him at his compound.
The leader of al-Qaida now lies in the depths of the sea after a ceremony as described in the Quran.
Lee Harvey Oswald: The man who assassinated John F Kenndy was shot down at the police station without a any trial in 1963 only two days after the assassination.
In 1981, after rumors that he was let go scott free sprung up, the police had to exhume the body and then put the rumors to rest. Dental records were used for the verification. He was reburied at the Rose Hill Memoral Cemetery.
The first coffin was auctioned for Rs $ 87,000 which was a huge controversy after his brother sued the Texas funeral home and a California auction house.
Pol Pot: The Khmer Rogue leader who was responsible for as many as two million lives in Cambodia died in 1998 when he was 73. He ruled the nation for four years between 1975 to 1979 trying to make it Marxist. But his failed attempts resulted in huge number of deaths by starvation, sickness or execution.
He was cremated only a mile away from Thailand border in Cambodia on a pile of tires and furniture at Dangrek Mountain. The grave is now open and unguarded marked by bottles in the ground and a roof made of corrugated iron sheets.
(AW- Anil)
