Wrong identity of deceased lets murder accused walk free, police probe in question

Hindustan Times

a day ago

Critical investigative lapses, including the failure to conduct DNA testing to confirm the identity of a body found on the tracks, led to a murder accused walking free, in Meerut, on Wednesday.
Narendra Kumar Dubey, imprisoned for over two years on murder charges, was acquitted by a Meerut court on Wednesday, after the supposed victim, Mohammad Aitabh, was found alive. The alleged assault took place on a Delhi-Ayodhya train on December 15-16, 2022.
One Alok Kumar had reported a violent altercation in the train's General Coach D-2 via a railway helpline, claiming a passenger was beaten and thrown out near Tilhar Railway Station, Shahjahanpur. Based on a video provided by Kumar and witness statements from two passengers, Ajni and Dildar, police arrested Dubey, accusing him of throwing the victim from the moving train. The Shahjahanpur GRP station house officer, Rehan Khan, stated that a body had been recovered from the tracks in Tilhar area. The police showed photographs of the body to witnesses, who identified it as the same person thrown from the train.
Photographs of the body were posted on social media for identification. On December 21, Mohammad Yakub from Tarsan Sumera village in Kudni police station area of Muzaffarpur, Bihar, arrived at Shahjahanpur district hospital mortuary. He claimed the body was that of his son, Mohammad Aitabh. After formal identification, Yakub performed the last rites as per Muslim customs in Shahjahanpur. However, no DNA testing or forensic analysis was conducted to verify the body's identity, a glaring oversight in the investigation.
Six months later, Aitabh returned home from Gujarat, shocking his family and neighbours who had believed him dead. Locals recorded videos and informed the police. Shahjahanpur police brought Aitabh in for questioning. In his statement before the court, Aitabh revealed he was never on that train. He had gone to Delhi to learn embroidery and tailoring and later moved to Gujarat for work. He had no mobile phone and therefore lost contact with his family.
Based on this testimony and witness statements, additional sessions judge, Pankaj Kumar Srivastava, acquitted Narendra Kumar Dubey of the murder charge.
The court further noted that the person who was thrown from the train was someone else altogether. If that unidentified individual's family wishes to pursue legal action against Narendra Dubey, the present judgment would not hinder such proceedings.
Meanwhile, police officials explaining the process followed in cases of unidentified bodies being found, said that once parents or immediate family members identify a body, it takes away the need for ordering a DNA or any other forensic test.
To buttress their claim, they also pointed out that the court, in its order, had passed no strictures against the force or the way the investigation was conducted in the case.
However, the question still stands. Whose body was found on the tracks?