Family waits for DNA test on missing bureaucrat’s ‘body’
NEW DELHI: A day after the Delhi Police claimed that a body recovered from railway tracks near Bijwasan railway station was that of missing bureaucrat, Jitender Jha, his family on Friday said that they would await the DNA report before confirming the identity.
Jha, a 1998 batch Indian Civil Accounts Services (ICAS) officer, had gone missing from Dwarka on Monday. On Tuesday, the remains of a man were found on the railway tracks near Bijwasan railway station. Police had said that the body was Jha’s, a claim that was initially contested by his family members.
On Friday, Jha’s relatives again saw the mangled remains of the body before demanding a DNA test. “Only a third of the body remains. It has been four days since it was recovered, so the remains were not in an identifiable condition. The recovered body could well be his, but we want to be sure,” Jha’s nephew, Hans Raj, told HT.
Jha had left his home on Monday, but never returned. Police had claimed that a body that was found on railway tracks near Bijwasan railway station on Tuesday morning was his.
While Shibesh Singh, DCP (south-west), did not respond to calls and text messages from HT, he told a news channel that the “evidence would be discussed with the family (of Jha)” and efforts made to “fully satisfy” them. “Evidence so far shows the body is his (Jha’s),” he said.
Jha’s f amily, meanwhile, expressed suspicion over the cause of the death. His nephew, Raj, suspected that it could be a murder as only days ago, Jha had told him that “a person who keeps trying is never defeated”.
“Of late, he had opened several files of scams related to some government agencies. He had been transferred six times in four years. He died fighting against the system. It needs to be investigated,” he alleged, adding there was no family or marital issue that could have compelled him to urge his life.