Year after BBA student was killed on visit to Uttarakhand hill town, accused — presumed to have died soon after — turns up alive

Since then, the accused had been missing for over a year and was presumed dead by many. That is, until he showed up last week.

Inspector Harinder Negi, the SHO of Dharchula police station, said the now 18-year-old surrendered at the juvenile court after his lawyer established that he was a minor at the time of the crime, as evidenced by his class 10 certificate. A month ago, facing protests from locals, the police had issued a notice under BNSS section 84 (issuance of public proclamation notice against an absconding person). The police had also identified his family property for forfeiture.

“We were told by the victim’s family that he was alive and hiding in Nepal. Later, we issued the notice, and he turned up,” said Negi. On Saturday, the accused appeared before the magistrate with his lawyer. “We have sought custody to question him to ascertain the motive for the crime,” said Negi. The police have yet to establish the sequence of events and motive.

The victim

The victim in the case, who was studying BBA in Dehradun, had called his aunt, Mamta Devi, last year and complained about the sweltering heat in Uttarakhand’s capital city. She told him to come and stay with them for some time in Pithoragarh’s Dharchula. His sister was already living with Devi.

“He was alone in Dehradun, and having lived in the hostel, he was feeling homesick. We were happy to have him as his sister also lives with us. On June 11, he came home,” says Devi, who runs a cosmetics shop in Dharchula’s Garbyal Khera.

Four days later, Devi was at her shop at around 10.25 am when she got a call from her neighbour. “She told me that my nephew had been attacked with a knife and was bleeding heavily, and that I should come home quickly. When I reached home, my niece was there. I saw that my nephew was covered in blood; there was blood everywhere. With the help of locals, I took him to the government hospital, where the doctors examined him and declared him dead,” according to Devi’s police complaint. On the basis of the complaint, an FIR was registered under charges of murder.

Devi’s complaint also said that when her niece reached the spot, she saw the accused kneeling over her brother, trying to stop the bleeding. “On seeing my niece… he (the accused) ran away,” she added in the complaint.

‘About to be proclaimed dead’

With eyewitnesses claiming that the accused had jumped into the roaring river, police gave up pursuing him. “The path to justice seemed obscure. We would go to the police station every week to get an update on the case. The police would say, ‘Tumhara bacha mar gaya aur jinhone maara woh bhi mar gaya (Your child is dead and the one who killed him is also dead)’. He was about to be proclaimed dead, but we didn’t give up the fight,” said Devi’s husband, Karan Verma.

One day, some visitors from Nepal, which is across the bridge from the village, told the family that they had seen the accused and that he was alive. “This revived our hopes of securing justice. However, the police were lackadaisical. We approached the media and spoke about the long wait and our attempts at finding him. We also informed the Superintendent of Police of the district. The local officials initiated proceedings under section 84 after that,” said Verma.

The motive for the murder is unknown. The family said the victim and the accused were not acquainted with each other. “The accused lived next door, but our family did not engage with them. On June 15, my nephew was sleeping when I left home. Shockingly, the accused barged in and stabbed him to death when the duo didn’t know each other,” Devi said.

The family now wants to meet the accused and ask him why he allegedly committed the murder. “We want to ask him why he would kill our son. We need to know why he would enter our house and kill a sleeping boy,” Devi said.