Victim’s mother stayed for eight days in flat where he was buried

NEWDELHI: The mother of 26-yearold Jai Prakash Maharana, who came to Delhi from Hyderabad to search for her missing son, stayed for eight days in the house where his son’s body was buried. She said her brother, who later turned out to be the alleged killer of her son, had initially told her that he had gone to Jammu and Kashmir for a vacation.

Jai, who used to live at a house in Dabri with his maternal uncle Bijay Kumar Maharana, was reported missing on February 12, 2016. More than two years later, on October 8, 2018, Jai’s body was found buried in the balcony of the flat. On January 6 this year, police arrested Bijay for allegedly killing Jai.

Jai’s mother Jyoshna Rani Maharana, a tailor by profession, said she rushed to Delhi just two days after Bijay reported to the police that he had gone missing.

“I called up my brother and learnt that my son had not returned home after he went out with his friends. Since Jai did not informed me about it, I did not trust Bijay and came to Delhi. For those eight days, I slept in a room barely five feet away from where the police found my son’s body,” the mother said.

Jyoshna said Bijay and she went to airports and railway stations and pasted posters of Jai. “We met his friends but no one knew anything about him. There were two rooms and a hall in the house in which Jai and Bijay used to stay. A door in the hall led to the balcony, but I never felt the need to open the door. Most of my time was spent outside looking around for my son as I believed that he is alive,” Jyoshna said.

She also said that whenever she recalls staying with her killer brother for those eight days, it sends shivers down her spine.

Jai’s family lives in a village on the outskirts of Hyderabad. His father Pradeep Kumar Maharana works at a private company. Family members said that Jai’s younger sister is studying medicine at a college in Hyderabad.