Missing bureaucrat ‘dead’, relatives say body not his
NEW DELHI: Police on Thursday found a body near the railway tracks of Bijwasan railway station and claimed it to be that of Jitender Jha, a senior bureaucrat.
Jha had gone missing from west Delhi’s Dwarka three days ago.
According to Shibesh Singh, DCP (Dwarka), the body was recovered on Tuesday — a day after Jha went missing — but was identified only on Thursday. “His clothes and identity card helped us in confirming his identity,” said the DCP.
However, a relative of Jha contested the police’s version and said that there was “an error” in identification. “The news of Jha’s death is probably wrong. I think there has been a mistake in identification,” a relative told HT on Thursday evening.
A “suicide note” recovered from the body said that no one should be blamed f or the extreme step he was taking, DCP Shibesh Singh claimed. He added that though prima facie no foul play was suspected , the authenticity of the note suicide needs to be probed. The alleged suicide note neither had Jha’s name nor any contact details, the DCP said.
Jha, a 1998 batch Indian Civil Service Accounts Services officer and posted in the ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD), went missing after he left his house for a smoke on Monday morning.
“His mutilated body was found on the railway tracks between Shahabad Mohammadpur and Bijwasan railway station on Tuesday, a day after he went missing. It took us nearly two days to identify him,” Singh said.
According to the DCP, the local police had circulated a set of photos of Jha but it did not match with the photo of the recovered body that was in possession of the railway police.
“Photos of at least half a dozen recovered bodies did not match Jha’s description. But on Thursday, we finally discovered that Jha’s photo matched with that of a body recovered. The clothes and identity cards have confirmed the deceased’s identity. The confusion over identification may have occurred due to the extent of mutilation. Jha’s wife will see the body on Friday and identify it,” said the DCP.
The officer said that the identification card was not found at the beginning leading to the delay. How and when the identity card was recovered remains unexplained, with the DCP cutting short the conversation with HT midway.
Jha lived with his wife, Bhawana, and his twin children in Dwarka, Sector 9. According to his wife, he had dropped his children at school around 8am on Monday before returning home. He then left home for a smoke, but never returned. His mobile phone was left behind at home.
CCTV footage obtained from Jha’s home could not offer much clues. According to his wife, Jha had been disturbed for the last couple of months due to his transfer six times in four years.
His wife has maintained that there was no marital discord between the two.