GARDAÍ investigating the death of a pensioner in Co Carlow, whose body was brought into a post office by two others, have ruled out foul play.
The inquiry is now focused on whether two men tried to use the dead man’s remains as a means of collecting his pension.
The alarm was raised by staff at Hosey’s post office on Staplestown Road in Carlow Town on Friday.
A postmortem established that Peader Doyle (66) from the Pollerton Road had just died before the alarm was raised.
There were also no signs of any injury and no other signs of foul play in his death have come to light, reports said.
The two men under investigation yesterday told The Sunday World: "He was alive when we left the house."
One of the men, Gareth Coakley, said they had given Mr Doyle, "a glass of water to drink before we left."
The paper claimed Mr Doyle's nephew Declan Haughney, who was also at the post office, claims he had been 'attacked' over what had been said about him on social media.
The bizarre series of events unfolded when a man entered the post office at about 11am on Friday.
Speaking with the Sunday World, Mr Coakley said he had stayed over at Mr Doyle's with Mr Haughney on Thursday night and had agreed to help him bring the pensioner to the post office on Friday morning.
"He (Declan) had asked the woman in the post office if he could collect the payment and she said: 'No, you may bring him down.'
"He told her he was sick, but they wouldn't listen. So then Deccy asked if I would give him a hand to bring him down because they wouldn't pay him," he told The Sunday World.
"I was to go upstairs and put the man's runners on and he (Declan) goes: 'Will you go downstairs and get me a glass of water?'
"And we gave him the drink of water and that. And then we sort of had to lift him up and bring him the whole way down to the post office but sure he never even got the chance to get his money.
"He probably died in the post office - at the ice-cream freezer, I'd say that's where he dropped off."
Asked whether Mr Doyle had been talking while in his bedroom, Mr Coakley said he had.
"He was alive - 100 per cent.
"We're hardly going to drag a dead man down the road, for f**k sake. He was still alive, and the autopsy will prove there was water in his system and what time he died.
"What's going on social media is destroying me family name.
"And that's the reason I went down to the Garda station and the garda shook our hands and said thanks for the information."
Asked what exactly happened in the post office, Gareth said: "He got heavier and heavier and then he started falling to the floor and I couldn't hold him anymore.
"People tried to save him."