Dead man found alive,men accused of his ‘murder’ relieved

Dinesh Kumar,now 33,went missing a day before his marriage was to be solemnised on June 4,1995. On Sunday,he returned home.

According to M K Gautam,Station Officer of the Khakherha police station,Dinesh told them that after leaving home,he took a bus for Sonepat. After spending two days there,he went to Jalandhar. He had been living there all these years,working as a labourer. He also said that he had started taking drugs. “It seems Dinesh is slightly mentally disturbed,” said Gautam.

On Monday,the police produced Dinesh before the Chief Judicial Magistrate. “The court did not record his statement because the matter is now before the Allahabad High Court,” said Gautam. “We will present him there.”

Three years after Dinesh went missing,his father Ram Dhan Singh,a retired school teacher,lodged a complaint of kidnapping and murder against six persons.

In 2005,five of them were sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment. Om Veer,Veer Pal,Chandra Bose,Balraj and Babloo are now out on bail and have challenged in their conviction in the Allahabad High Court. An aunt of the girl who was going to marry the Dinesh was the sixth accused,but her name was later dropped.

KK Singh,the lawyer of Chandra Bose,said the accused were “trapped in local politics”. He said two local youths — Virendra and Bheem — convinced Ram Dhan that his son had been kidnapped and murdered. They had alleged that the accused had confessed this to them in an inebriated state.

It was then that Ram Dhan lodged the case. He said he had nothing personal against the accused. “I lodged the case on basis of what Virendra and Bheem told me,” he said.

But on Saturday,his brother Ram Kishan,who lives in Delhi,called up to say Dinesh was safe and was with him. “I asked them to bring him home,” said Ram Dhan. “When they came to Baghpat,I took Dinesh to the police station. He has changed,but we recognised him from his broken teeth and old scars.”

The men accused,meanwhile,say they have lost almost everything fighting the case. “Apart from financial crisis,we also suffered humiliation from the police and neighbours,” said Balraj,one of the accused. The police detain them for questioning whenever any crime occurs in the area. “I lost my business,Veer Pal who was with the Railway police,lost his job and had to go to court to get it back,” Balraj said.