Career
He fought with Indian bureaucracy for 19 years to prove that he is alive. Meanwhile, he added Mritak (deceased) to his name, and founded Mritak Sangh, the Uttar Pradesh Association of Dead People, to highlight other cases like his. Bihari discovered at least 100 other people in a similar situation, being officially dead.
He formed Mritak Sangh, Uttar Pradesh Association of Dead People, in the Azamgarh district.
He and many other members were in danger of being killed by those who had appropriated their property. Currently the association has over 20,000 members from all over India.
By 2004 they had managed to declare four of their members alive. Over the years Bihari tried to attract attention to his situation by various means.
In 1980 he added the word mritak ("dead") to his name and signed his letters "late Lal Bihari".
He stood for election against Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 and lost, to prove that he is alive. In 1994 he managed to have his official death annulled after a long legal struggle. In 2004 he ran for a seat in the parliament of Lal Ganj.
Bihari continues to support other people in similar situations.
In 2004 he sponsored fellow Mritak Sangh member Shivdutt Yadav when he contested election against Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. As of 2012, film-maker Satish Kaushik planned to make a movie about his life and "death", titled Mritak.
