Darbhanga: A minor-boy from Darbhanga, Bihar, escaped from his abductors’ clutches in Nepal and returned home, only to discover that he has already been ‘cremated’.
The overjoyed family has decided to return the Rs 4 lakh compensation they received from the authorities, but the identity of the dead boy they were forcefully made to cremate, is still not known, thanks to the slip shoddy ways of the Bihar Police.
The boy went missing from home on February 8 this year. The family lodged a missing complaint with the police. A few days later, they received a phone call, demanding a ransom of Rs 45,000 for safe return of the boy. The family transferred Rs 5,000 to the mentioned account as the first installment.
On February 28, a boy of about the same age was found in a severely injured condition on the railway tracks. He was moved to a hospital where he died the next day. The police handed over the body, after post mortem, to the family of the missing boy.
The family refused to believe that the body was that of the missing boy. As physical identification was not possible due to disfigurement of the face and other parts, they demanded a DNA test. The police would have none of it. The family and locals protested with the body and even clashed with the police, after which the SHO of the local police station was suspended for negligence.
Later in the night, the police exerted pressure on the family and forced them to identify the body formally and cremate it. The welfare department of the state paid the family Rs 4 lakh as per laid down norms.
A few days later, the family received a call from somebody in Nepal. The man connected them to the boy who was allegedly kidnapped. After verifying his identity through a video call, the astounded family fetched him back to Darbhanga.
Once back home, the boy claimed that his abductors had gagged him and taken him to Nepal, where he was kept confined in a room. One day, he apparently found the door of the room open and fled and then took the help of locals to get in touch with his family back in India.
The shamefaced police are now looking for the kidnappers and trying to trace the family of the boy found on the railway tracks.
