KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, April 11: Mystery shrouds the death of a 36-year-old youth whose body was found hanging from a tree along Chaibasa-Chakradharpur road under Muffasil thana area in West Singhbhum on Thursday morning.
The suspected murder victim was identified as Ritesh Gupta, a resident of Chandmari locality in Chakradharpur.
When Ritesh’s body was found hanging from the tree, one of his legs was tied with a rope and his belongings like wallet, bag and bike’s key were found lying on the ground.
Body found on Thursday morning, identified
Significantly, the victim’s bike had been found lying in an abandoned state a little distance from the tree in question since Wednesday noon.
Ritesh who used to work at a trading firm, Gadodia Traders, in Chakradharpur had come out of his workplace for Badabambu to collect the dues at 11 am on Wednesday and had not returned home since.
As the youth did not return home by the night, his family members started searching for him. On Thursday morning someone found the body in the tree and informed the police.
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It was the Muffasil thana police who recovered the body and having verified through the registration number of the abandoned motorcycle that the vehicle belonged to Ritesh Gupta. Later, the police informed the family members who identified the body to be that of Ritesh.
Murder or suicide? Police probing all angles
Muffasil thana OC, Ranjeet Oraon said this could be a case of murder or even a case of suicide.
“There is a minor mark of injury on the body. We have sent the body to the Chaibasa Sadar Hospital for postmortem and have started an investigation into the circumstances under which the youth died,” said Oraon while talking to The Jharkhand Story.
The OC, on being queried said if it is a case of murder, there must be some motive behind. The youth had come out of his workplace at 11 am on Wednesday and his bike was found in an abandoned state at 12 in the noon. “He might not have collected so much money within an hour that someone killed him after taking away the money from him, ” replied the police officer.
Ranjeet Oraon confirmed that one of the legs of the deceased was tied with a rope, but claimed his clothes were intact and spotless, suggesting that he might not have been dragged.
The police officer, however, could not say anything as to why should a man tie one of his leg while committing suicide by hanging from a tree.
The police had also pressed a dog squad at the scene but found no clue to the circumstances leading to the youth’s mysterious death.