Patna, June 28: A commando of the Border Security Force (BSF), who was once part of the security detail assigned to Narendra Modi, went missing from a Delhi-bound train between Katihar and Naugachia railway stations on June 2 and nothing has since been heard from him.
The commando, Arvind Kumar Sharma (34), a native of Buxar district, was posted at the Bongaigaon BSF headquarters in Assam.
The incident came to light when acting commandant of the BSF's 17th battalion, B.P. Sah, lodged a missing person complaint with the Bongaigaon Government Railway Police (GRP) on June 5 stating that Sharma was traceless.
The National Security Guard (NSG)-trained constable had boarded the Delhi-bound Kamakhya Anand Vihar special train on June 1 and was last seen at the Katihar railway station on June 2.
Sharma had earlier served as security guard of many NSG protectee VIPs, among them Prime Minister Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, Union home minister Rajnath Singh, former railway minister Lalu Prasad and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati.
According to the complaint, Sharma was travelling by the special train in coach S-5, berth number 55. The train had crossed Naugachia in Bhagalpur around 2.10am on June 2 and was supposed to reach Delhi late in the night. The family members enquired about him from the BSF headquarters in Assam when he didn't reach home.
Sharma was supposed to go to his native village of Panditpur in Buxar district after dropping off some packets in Delhi.
The commando's family members contacted the Naugachia GRP last week after they came to know about the recovery of a body of a man in his mid-thirties from the railway track near Karhagola Road station at Naugachia. Sharma's younger brother Jai Prakash Sharma, a constable in Calcutta police, identified the body from the slippers and a photograph.
Station house officer (SHO) of Naugachia GRP, Bhola Mahto, said the pair of slippers had been handed over to the commando's son Sandip Kumar Sharma, who accompanied his mother Vidya Laxmi Sharma. Vidya, however, was not sure whether the body belonged to her husband, police added.
"We kept the body in the morgue for 72 hours and disposed of it as no claimant turned up within the stipulated time. Apart from the photograph and slippers, there was nothing in the possession of the deceased, who was found wearing a T-shirt and trousers. The cause of the incident is yet to be ascertained," Mahto told The Telegraph.
The Katihar-Naugachia route has acquired notoriety for being the most unsafe zone for train passengers. Incidents of pick-pocketing, theft and loot have become a routine affair in the region. Pritam Bhattacharjee, an Assam research scholar, was killed by criminals near Naugachia while travelling by the Awadh Assam Express in 2012.
Investigation officer of the case Suryamani Pandey said Sharma's family has not given anything in writing till date. "We handed over the slippers to the family on the directive of the seniors whom they had approached," he said.
Prima facie, the police believe, it appears that Sharma might have fallen from the running train and died. The post-mortem also showed marks of severe injuries on the mutilated body. Local people had noticed the body lying on the track and subsequently informed the Naugachia GRP, the investigating officer said.
The commando's family told the police they had last spoken to Sharma when the train was stationed at Katihar. Later his mobile phone was found switched off. Sharma's cousin Raj Sharma, a constable in the GRP, said he was travelling with two BSF fellows, Manish and Anil.
Asked about Sharma, Manish told the victim's family he didn't know Arvind too well. But they had left the BSF headquarters for Delhi together. "Anil and I were travelling in S-4 while he (Arvind) was in coach S-5. He came to us for five minutes after the train left the New Jalpaiguri. What happened with him is not known to us," the deceased's cousin, Raj Sharma, quoted Manish as saying.
Investigating officer Pandey said Rajesh Garg, who was travelling in the same coach, had revealed that all the passengers were shifted from coach number S-5 to S-4 by the coach attendant as a few passengers were left in S-5 when the train left Katihar. This had been done for security reasons. However, Sharma didn't adhere to the directive and decided to travel in the same coach, Pandey added.
