A student of Gurukul Engineering School, Bhubaneswar, Dibyashankar Gartia (18) who was believed to have been murdered returned home alive on Thursday. Dibyashankar’s family had conducted his final rites on Wednesday.
In fact, police had arrested six of his friends charging them with murdering him and they are now languishing behind bars.
According to reports, Dibyashankar of Bijayanagar village under Deogarh police limits along with his friends had organised a feast in the village on July 8.
While everybody returned to their homes, Dibyashankar was nowhere to be seen. Subsequently, after a search on July 12, his father Jashodhara Gartia lodged a missing complaint in Deogarh police station.
Later on July 16, police spotted an unidentified decomposed body in Bhandarikatei forest under the Laimura police outpost area of Deogarh district. Considering it to be the body of Dibyashankar, police called his parents and his brother Tankadhara. They identified the body as that of Dibyashankar. On confirmation, police seized the body and handed it over to the family for funeral after autopsy.
Basing on the complaint of Jashodhara, police arrested six of Dibyashankar’s friends Santosh Jena (26), Sudhir Garia (20), Rabindra Swain (20), Satya Garia (21), all of Bijaynagar besides Alok Behera (20) of Gurudukhaman and Harihar Nayak (20) who had feasted with him on July 8. To their ill-luck, the mobile phone of Dibyashankar was recovered from Alok who had bought it from the former for Rs 1800.
Family of Dibyashankar were in for shock when he called up his father on Wednesday night informing him that he would reach home from Bhubaneswar on Thursday morning.
On receiving the call, a confused Jashodhara rushed to the police and informed them that his son was in his college all these days. Later, police nabbed Dibyashankar at Dharampur Chhak under the Reamal police limits of Deogarh district while he was on his way back home from Bhubaneswar.
Deogarh SP Satyajit Naik said the priority of police will now be to arrange for release of the six youths.
Dibyashankar will also be produced in the court and case registered against Jashodhara for misleading the police.