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Regular-article-logo Friday, 18 July 2025

Dad's search still on

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OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Published 27.05.13, 12:00 AM

The search for his missing daughter is still not over for Jagdambi Singh, a septuagenarian man from Jamui.

According to an FIR lodged at Kankarbagh police station on May 7, Jagdambi’s daughter Sumita Devi (25) has been missing since April 24.

“Around 9.10pm on April 24, we got a call from Sumita, who was crying over the phone. After her wedding in 2010, she was staying with her in-laws at their Kankarbagh residence behind Panch Shiva temple. That night, Sumita requested us to meet the dowry demand of her in-laws. After that, we never heard anything from her,” said Jagdambi, adding that his sons — Sanjay and Indradeo — later found the house locked from outside.

After all efforts to search Sumita proved futile, Jagdambi lodged a formal complaint against Guddu alias Ranjeet Singh (Sumita’s husband), Shakuntala Devi (mother-in-law), Dilip Singh (Ranjeet’s elder brother), his wife Sunita Devi and Babita Devi (sister-in-law).

They all have been made accused under Sections 365 and 498 (A) of the IPC. “I fear that my daughter was killed by her in-laws and her body disposed of secretly,” he claimed.

Jagdambi rued that even after the chief minister’s directive to DGP Abhayanand on May 6 during Nitish Kumar’s janata durbar, the police apparently have not tried to trace Sumita.

The farmer from Fatehpur village said that he had also called on agriculture minister Narendra Singh to hand him a petition. “He (Narendra) assured me of help but nothing happened,” he said.

He alleged that his repeated pleas to police officers fell on deaf ears. “I finally decided to return to Jamui, which is about 160km southeast of Patna,” he said, adding that it was not possible for an elderly person like him to come to Patna from Jamui regularly to know the progress in the case.

Jagdambi even met Patna senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaj and city superintendent Jayant Kant.

Kant said that he had already instructed the Kankarbagh station house officer and the investigating officer, Mukesh Sharma, to probe the allegations and initiate action against the accused. Reacting to Kant’s promise, Jagdambi said: “I can only hope.”

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