PATNA: In a twist in a murder case in Bihar, where the discovery of a headless body led to three sons of an RJD leader being booked as accused, the man believed to have been killed has been found alive. Police in Samastipur district said on Sunday that Jagdish Sahni, whose headless body was believed to have been found on Friday, was, in fact, locked up at a police station in the district after being arrested for a bicycle theft.
“It is now clear that the headless body was not that of Jagdish Sahni. His parents had seen the headless body found in a sweet corn field close in Bhamrupur village and identified it as that of their son. An FIR was lodged as per their identification and statement,” said DSP (Sadar) Mohammad Tanvir to the New Indian Express. The victim’s head is yet to be found, he added.
After the development, the three sons of former minister and RJD leader Ramashray Sahni, who were named as accused in the FIR, no longer stand accused in the case, said Tanvir. The RJD leader’s three sons - Mukesh, Sunil and Abhishek- had absconded after being named in the FIR, but sources said they are now back at their home. Ramashray Sahni, who served as Bihar’s animal husbandry minister in the erstwhile RJD government, had denied his sons’ involvement in the murder.
Police plan to request the district court for the release of jailed Suresh Mahto, one of the six accused who was arrested for the murder hours after the headless body was found.
The body was handed over to Jagdish Sahni’s parents and they had duly cremated it. “We had taken several photographs of the body. Now we would try to ascertain the identity of the dead man from missing reports already received by police across the State,” said Tanvir.
Jagdish Sahni was in lockup at Dalsinghsarai police station in Samastipur district when the body was spotted near his home under Mufassil police station. He was sent to jail for theft the next day. His parents, who are daily-wage labourers, are vastly relieved to know he is alive but feel extremely awkward after the mourning and the cremation.