Malda, March 7: The body of a Class XI student Ranjit Chowdhury, who was reported missing since March 3, was found on a char in the Ganga this morning with his hands and legs tied to a rope. The body was spotted by some fishermen.

Ranjit, a student of Sobhanagar High School and a resident of Khaskol, had gone to the river to fish, along with his friends —Dipankar Chowdhury and Chhoton Chowdhury — on March 3 afternoon, according to a complaint lodged by the boy’s father Manoranjan Chowdhury with police.

Although Dipankar and Chhoton returned home at the night, Ranjit did not, Chowdhury alleged .

After having waited for his son to return home for two days, Chowdhury lodged the complaint on March 5.

“Both Dipankar and Chhoton were my son’s close friends. When I went to both of them, they claimed that all the three had returned together and said they did not know why Ranjit had gone missing,” the distraught father said.

District superintendent of police Satyajit Banerjee said Chhoton had been detained for interrogation. He added that Dipankar had fled the area. “We are hopeful of getting leads from Chhoton,” said Banerjee.