Ranchi/Patna: A digital communications manager, associated with Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party, was found dead in a forest in Jharkhand after going missing during a train journey from Ranchi to Patna on Monday.
Devpalik Gupta (31), an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) in Delhi, was travelling by the Jan Shatabdi Express with his friend and colleague Gautam Kumar when he disappeared.
His disappearance triggered a search involving railway security personnel and the local police, as reported by News18.
Gupta reportedly left his berth to visit the pantry car but did not return. His mobile phone was also switched off, adding to concerns about his whereabouts. His body was subsequently found in a forest in Jharkhand, raising questions about what happened after he went missing.
A resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar district, Gupta, had boarded the train with Kumar at Ranchi railway station, and it departed around 2.25 pm.
Kumar told authorities that ten minutes into the journey, Gupta told him that he was going to the pantry car.
Kumar went to look for him when Gupta didn’t return. He first checked the pantry car near their coach and then searched the other coaches of the train. However, Gupta could not be found anywhere on the train.
He then reported the matter to the Government Railway Police (GRP), following which a search operation was launched.
Railway authorities also examined CCTV footage from Muri Junction to determine whether Gupta had got off the train at the station. Muri was the first stop after Ranchi.
The information available indicated Gupta had not deboarded the train there, Sanjeev Singh, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) inspector at Muri Junction, told the media.
A search continues, but his mobile phone remained switched off. A joint team of local police and RPF personnel was also deployed to search for him as efforts to establish his whereabouts continued.
The search ended with the discovery of Gupta’s body in a forest next to the railway tracks near Muri, as reported by ANI.
Till now, the circumstances surrounding his disappearance from the moving train and the subsequent discovery of his body remain unclear from the information available.
Jan Suraaj national spokesperson Kumar Saurabh Singh has called for a swift and impartial investigation into the death.
Singh, in an X post, said Gupta had been missing since Monday afternoon while travelling on the Ranchi-Patna Jan Shatabdi Express. He said an FIR was registered at 9 pm.
The party did not know the circumstances surrounding Gupta’s death and had no basis to claim a political or other conspiracy, Singh said. He urged Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren to direct senior officials to ensure a fair probe. Gupta’s body is being taken to RIMS, Ranchi, for a postmortem, he added.
