For nearly 18 months, a murder accused in Uttar Pradesh allegedly passed himself off as dead, using artificial intelligence to fabricate photographs of his own funeral and cremation, and securing a death certificate that he submitted to a court where his murder trial was nearing its conclusion.

The deception unravelled Sunday when the Mau police arrested Raj Kumar Rajbhar alias Raju, 38, who had reportedly returned to his hometown to meet his wife and children. He was produced before a court, which sent him to jail.

The police said Raj Kumar, a school dropout and native of Mau, orchestrated the elaborate plan to escape trial in a 2016 murder case.…