Hotel employee found dead in Purnia, family alleges murder

Patna: A 23-year-old employee of a hotel was found hanging from the ceiling fan in the staff room in Purnia’s Mirganj police station area on Monday, police said.The deceased, identified as Ranjan Kumar Maraiya, a resident of Harirahi village in Barhara block in the district, had married four months ago.

No suicide note was found inside the room, police said.The police sent the body to Purnia GMCH for the postmortem and began a probe into the death.Ranjan’s family refused to accept that he died by suicide and alleged that he was murdered. Hotel owner Naveen Kumar said, “Ranjan joined his hotel only a few months back. On Sunday night, Ranjan had dinner and went to sleep in the staff room. When he did not report for duty by around 10am on Monday, the staff called out to him.

Seeing the door bolted from inside, they peeked through the window and found his body hanging from the fan.

The police were immediately informed, and the door was broken open.”Ranjan’s father, Sagar Maraiya, while alleging that his son was murdered, said the body was hanging from the fan, but the feet were touching the bed. He said the fan’s height was barely 5 feet from the bed. He alleged that Ranjan was murdered and his body was hanged from the fan.

Upon receiving the information, Banmankhi SDPO Shailesh Pritam inspected the hotel and room. He said, “The CCTV footage of the hotel is being examined. No written complaint has been filed by the family yet. Prima facie it appears to be a suicide case. An unnatural death (UD) case has been registered on the statement of the hotel staff. Further investigation will be conducted based on the family’s complaint and postmortem report.

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