Cops yet to crack Alwar deaths mystery

A day after three men were found dead near railway tracks in Alwar, police said they were yet to find out what led to the deaths but have detained two eyewitnesses as part of their investigation.

The Congress demanded on Thursday a judicial probe into the alleged group suicide over unemployment.

One of the eyewitnesses has told police that four men called him to the railway tracks near Shantikunj Colony and said they would end their lives because they were jobless. “They said ‘naukari lagegi nahi and kheti hum kar nahi payenge (We won’t get jobs and we can’t grow crops) and asked us also if we wanted to die,” Rahul Meena, 22, told the police during interrogation.

Police called him for questioning on the basis of call details record of the deceased men. “Rahul Meena has told us that four of his friends called him and Santosh to the railway tracks on Tuesday night. They were smoking. When a train came from Jaipur side, they jumped in front of the engine. Rahul said he saw their mutilated body parts being dragged by the train up to 50 feet from where they were sitting,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.

Local papers carried reports quoting Rahul Meena to say that the four men killed themselves due to unemployment. The fourth one survived and is in a Jaipur hospital.

However, Surendra Kumar Meena, brother of one of the deceased men, said the two of them were preparing for a railway recruitment exam and his brother had no reason to end his life. “I cannot believe four people can end their lives together. There’s more to this than meets the eye,” said Surendra.

He said his brother, Satyanarayan Meena, one of the deceased men, left their rented house around 4.30pm to go to Malviya Nagar.

“I called him around 5pm and he said he will return soon. After that I went out for my evening jogging. I called him again around 7pm and his phone was switched off. When I called one of his friends, he told me that he had gone to meet some other friends near a railway track,” Surendra said.

He and father of one of the other deceased men identified the bodies on the tracks and called police around 10.30pm.

Alwar superintendent of police Rajendra Singh said he was not in a position to comment on the cause of the deaths until the investigation was complete. “We are exploring all angles to investigate the case,” he said.

Meanwhile, former Alwar MP and former union minister Jitendra Singh demanded a judicial inquiry into the case. “Suicide by four men raises doubt. If this is true, then this is an extremely sad state of affairs that our youth are ending their lives over unemployment,” he said.

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