Dead youth’s kin cry foul, take body to police station

There was tension in CBD Belapur Friday evening as the family of a suicide victim brought his body to the office of the anti-human traffic department of Navi Mumbai police.

The family claimed that the deceased had committed suicide due to police interrogation of him over a missing girl case. The matter was settled after the police spoke to the family and convinced them that they were not at fault.

Belapur village resident, Rahul Patil (26) had jumped in front of a train near Belapur railway station. Giving details of the case, assistant commissioner of police Dhanraj Daima said, “A 19-year-old married woman had gone missing on February 9 from Belapur village. A complaint had been registered by her relatives.”

He added, “During investigations we were told by some locals that Patil, would have an idea on her whereabouts. In order to find out if there was any truth in it, we tried to contact him but he was not available.”

The police then left a message at his home asking him to report to the police station whenever he came. Daima said, “On Thursday Rahul and his brother both went over to the anti-human trafficking department. Rahul was interrogated in front of his brother.”

The police however did not get any concrete information from him nor did prima facie he appear to be a suspect and so he was allowed to leave.

On Friday, however, at around 8.45 am Patil’s body was found on the railway tracks. Following the postmortem on his body, it was handed to his family.

Said Daima, “The family did bring the body to the anti-human trafficking department premises where his interrogation was conducted. We however, explained to them all that had happened. They then took the body for cremation.”