#Man installs life-size wax model of dead wife for housewarming

Three years ago, Indian businessman Srinivas Gupta’s wife, Madhavi, was killed in a car wreck. But the devoted husband refused to let her image die.

Gupta, 57, had a hyperrealistic wax figure cast in her likeness. The sweet — but eerie — result is strikingly lifelike, if unmoving and stuck forever smiling into the distance.

In addition to re-creating his deceased wife’s physical image, Gupta also recently had his new home built in India with her in mind. Before commissioning the bungalow in the Koppal district of the state of Karnataka, Gupta reportedly first approached 25 architects, commissioning one to construct the new house only when he was assured they’d do it right.

Once complete, Gupta held a housewarming where he introduced his wife’s new life-size, but lifeless, statue to his guests. The dead woman’s strangely resemblant doll-equivalent was dressed in a pink saree and gold accessories and positioned on the living room couch. She left many attendees speechless, according to footage shot at the Aug. 8 gathering.

Madhavi was reportedly killed while on a trip with her daughters to Tirupati, in Andhra Pradesh, when their vehicle’s driver rear-ended a speeding truck. The daughters only sustained minor injuries, but Madhavi’s proved fatal.