‘Murdered’ man found alive

Ravi Kumar,Station Officer of Ikauna police station in Deoria,said Santosh would be produce in court tomorrow for recording his statement. Santosh told the police that he worked as a driver in Mumbai and had arrived only three days ago.

Santosh went missing on December 21,2010. He then worked as a tractor driver in the fields of one Jitendra Singh,who had a land dispute with his neghbour Rakesh Chauhan.

According to Santosh,he was working in the fields on December 21 when Rakesh and his younger brother Vimlesh Chauhan arrived,took him away to an isolated place,beat him up and then left. Santosh called his employer and told him about the incident. “According to Santosh,Jitendra advised him not to return home and asked him to leave Deoria,” said Ravi Kumar. Santosh then took a bus for Agra and from there he went to Mumbai.

In Deoria,Jitendra Singh lodged a kidnapping case against Rakesh,Vimlesh and two others — Sitaram Yadav and Radhey Yadav. Rakesh and Vimlesh were arrested and sent to jail. The Deoria police investigated the case and filed chargesheet against Rakesh and Vimlesh under various section,including kidnapping,said Ravi Kumar.

The police,however,did not find any evidence against Sitaram and Radhey and they were never arrested. Later,Rakesh and Vimlesh were released on bail.

Two months later,an unidentified headless body was found in a field in Brijmanganj police circle in neighbouring Maharajganj district. Jitendra Singh along with Santosh’s sister-in-law Kishori Devi went to Brijmanganj and identified the body as that of Santosh.

Maharajganj police then lodged an FIR. Santosh said that all this time he was unaware of the events and worked in Mumbai.