A shop owner was murdered in 1983, then a boy claimed he was reborn as him, with a matching birthmark

Toran Singh, widely known as Titu, has spent much of his life reportedly recalling memories tied to a man named Suresh Verma, a shop owner who was shot and killed in 1983. As reported by Ladbible, the case has become one of the more widely cited examples cited by reincarnation researchers.

The story centers on the village of Baad, located about eight miles from Agra in northern India. Titu reportedly began speaking around eighteen months old, and according to his family, he described a wife, two children, and a radio cassette shop in Agra, and complained that his current family lived differently than the life he claimed to remember.

As he grew older, the details he shared reportedly became more specific. He allegedly asked repeatedly to see a brother named Raja Babu and a sister named Susheela, and identified himself as the owner of a business called Suresh Radio. His family said they used those details to locate a real shop by that name in Sadar Bazaar, and later learned that its owner, Suresh Verma, had been shot dead at age thirty on August 28, 1983. The two families reportedly had no prior connection before that discovery.

Researchers pointed to physical marks as part of the case

When the families met in April 1987, Titu reportedly recognized Suresh’s widow, parents, and two brothers on sight, and went on to describe details about Suresh’s life, including his children’s names, the layout of his home, and a specific trip he had taken. According to accounts of the meeting, when Suresh’s relatives tried testing him by bringing him to a different family member’s shop, Titu did not identify it as his own, and once brought to the correct store, he reportedly recognized a photograph on the wall and pointed to the drawer where cash had once been kept.

Researcher Antonia Mills, who investigated the case, noted that Titu had a circular birthmark on his right temple that reportedly aligned with the bullet entry wound described in Suresh’s post-mortem report, along with a deformity behind his right ear said to correspond with the exit wound. According to the Psi Encyclopedia, Mills also noted a birthmark on the crown of Titu’s head resembling one Suresh reportedly had, and said the marks were present from birth. Similar unexplained cases have drawn public attention, including one involving a Bulgarian mystic’s predictions that continue to circulate online decades later.

Beyond the physical similarities, Titu reportedly displayed behavioral traits associated with Suresh, who was known as an active, hot-tempered man. Titu was reported to have had angry outbursts as a child, including one incident where he hit another boy with a sugar cane, and visitors said he acted like he still owned the radio shop during his visit there, including repeating a habit Suresh reportedly had of smacking a stool.

He was also said to have been able to operate a car’s controls despite having no prior experience. There is reportedly some uncertainty over whether Titu was born in December 1982 or December 1983, a detail researchers say affects how the case would be classified within reincarnation theory. Other cases involving unexplained personal accounts have also circulated widely online in recent years, including one tied to a woman’s simulation video that resonated with viewers describing similar experiences.

Titu has since gone on to earn a master’s degree in yoga and naturopathy and now works as an assistant professor at Banaras Hindu University, a career path distinct from the shop owner he is said to remember being.