Cremated body not that of Rabbi Shergill’s nephew: Report

Chetan Shergill (22),a resident of Rohini in Delhi,went missing in Punjab’s Patiala district while he was on his way to attend his Journalism degree exam at Punjabi University,Patiala ,on May 5. According to his family,he had been pick-pocketed on the way and had called his mother and uncle Rabbi Shergill from his mobile urging them to locate him and take him home.

Soon,however,his phone was switched off,prompting his family to launch a search at his last traced location at Saddowal in Patiala district.

On May 13,the Haryana Police with the help of a Punjab-based private diver Ashu Malik traced a body matching the description of Chetan and handed it over to Rabbi Shergill. Chetan’s family members including his mother and uncle identified the body and claimed it. The post-mortem examination report states that the viscera,two bones and four teeth had been handed over for the forensic test; Mohini’s blood samples were also taken for DNA matching.

The Shergill family performed the last rites in Delhi assuming the body to be that of Chetan’s. The family,however,had all along claimed that they were not sure that the body was their son’s as they say that the doctor who conducted post-mortem had told them that it was 7-9 centimetres taller than Chetan Shergill,who was approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall.

The Shergills have announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for any information on their son and have pasted hundreds of his posters at various places. They claim that they are still getting calls from people who claim to have seen Chetan. Based on one such call,the family is now searching for Chetan in Dharamsala.

“We learnt it from the FSL doctors that the samples have not matched. The result is negative. This has given us some hope that Chetan might be alive. We hope that all the agencies shall get together and help us in tracing our missing boy,” Rabbi Shergill told The Indian Express.

Confirming the development,one of the doctors who performed the DNA test said: “The results have come out negative. We have conducted the tests thrice to rule out any doubt. The DNA samples have not matched”.