KANPUR, Feb. 24 -- Auto driver Gaurav Sahu, 32, played Good Samaritan by helping a patient get admission to the Dr Murarilal Chest Hospital in Kanpur last September, after a routine drop-off at the facility on GT Road. But after this act of humanity, he went through a nightmare - on official records, Gaurav Sahu, a native of Ambedkar Nagar, was 'found dead'. He learnt this on January 7 when he went to a local fair-price shop to collect monthly rations for his family of six. "I was told I wouldn't get any rations because I am no longer alive. I went numb and argued with the PDS shop owner - told him I am standing right in front of you. He said, 'On paper, you are dead'," lamented Sahu. From there, Sahu rushed to a post office, where he logged into the Aadhaar website with the help of a friend. After entering his Aadhaar number, the screen displayed: 'Aadhaar is deactivated due to deceased status'. The ordeal began months earlier, on the evening of September 7, 2025. After dropping passengers at the chest hospital, Sahu found 25-year-old Ashish Srivastava gasping for breath near the entrance. Srivastava, a Lucknow native, who worked at a hotel in Naubasta, had reportedly come to the hospital earlier but was not admitted. As his condition worsened, Sahu took him to the emergency ward. He immediately ran into procedural barriers. The standard protocol required a valid identification document and a designated attendant before admission could be processed at the hospital. "Srivastava was gasping for breath and the staff was asking for papers. He had nothing on him. I didn't think about the consequences...handed over my own Aadhaar card and signed the forms as his attendant. My only thought was that he should get treatment," said Sahu. Sahu stayed at the hospital for five days, arranging medicines from outside and assisting with basic care. Despite the efforts, Srivastava died of a respiratory illness on September 12. With no relatives coming forward, Sahu contacted Dalit Panther, a social organisation that performs last rites for unclaimed bodies, to ensure a dignified cremation. The fallout surfaced in January. In what appears to be a clerical error, the hospital records allegedly mapped Sahu's Aadhaar details (instead of Srivastava) - submitted solely for admission - on to the patient's death record. The death form, once uploaded to the Civil Registration System (CRS) portal, updates the birth and death database maintained by the health department. The CRS is linked with the registrar general and census commissioner of India (RGCCI), and the uploaded data is then shared from time to time with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which deactivates Aadhaar numbers based on the reason cited. The update is also marked to the National Informatics Centre at the district level, where databases such as those of PDS beneficiaries are linked with Aadhaar. In official systems, the attendant had been recorded as the deceased. Deputy director-general (UIDAI , UP) Prashant Kumar Singh said the matter has come to their knowledge, and there is a defined procedure to get the Aadhaar reactivated, if it has been deactivated. "The person needs to reach out to the nearby office with a request for his biometric update. If his biometric impressions match the data in our data base, his Aadhaar will be reactivated at the earliest," he added. "I have helped admit at least eight unidentified people to hospitals earlier, but the system never erased me," Sahu said, holding a stack of applications. "It is chilling to be told by a computer that you don't exist. My family depends on our rations and my identity documents. I am running from pillar to post just to prove I am alive." Chief medical officer Haridatt Nemi, whom Sahu met on Monday, said the matter is being examined. District magistrate Jitendra Pratap Singh termed it a "grave mistake" and said it would be rectified. Dr Awadhesh Kumar, head of respiratory medicine at the hospital, said the issue had not been brought to his formal notice but assured that records would be reviewed. As inquiries begin, Sahu remains caught in a digital limbo - alive in person, but officially deceased....