Patna, May 18: A sexagenarian man is languishing in Begusarai divisional jail for poor and unscientific police probe into a crime never committed.
Gauri Rai (65) was sent to jail over two months ago on the charge of killing his 24-year-old daughter-in-law Anjani alias Munni. But she is alive. Realising their mistake, the police have initiated the process of bringing innocent Gauri out of the jail.
He might be released from the jail in a week. But it would be difficult for Gauri to get rid of the social stigma he earned for no fault of his.
The police had declared Anjani “dead” after her parents allegedly identified a half-burnt body as hers. The cops submitted a chargesheet in the court against Gauri and his other family members. But Anjani resurfaced at her in-laws’ house at Bariyarpur village under Teghra police station in Begusarai district on Tuesday. The woman told Teghra sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Arshad Zaman that she had gone to Jalandhar in Punjab with a youth she loved.
Anjani was produced in the Begusarai court on Wednesday. She recorded her statement under Section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
Eight persons, including Gauri, Anjani’s husband Laltoon Rai and his mother Neelam Devi, were booked under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (tampering with evidence) of Indian Penal Code. Gauri was arrested immediately. Seven others were absconding.
Ironically, Laltoon had reported to the Teghra police about Anjani’s missing on March 3, 2012. Subsequently a missing case was lodged.
The case took a twist when the police recovered a half-burnt body of a middle-aged woman from a field near Bachhwada railway station. Despite repeated denial by Anjani’s relatives, the police reportedly claimed it to be the body of Anjani and handed it over to her relatives.
Zaman, however, claimed that Anjani’s father Ram Niwas Rai and mother Bhagirathi Devi had identified the body on the basis of clothes and jewellery recovered from the spot and gave it in writing that it was of their daughter.
The SDPO had earlier directed the investigating officer to send the viscera for DNA test to ascertain the identity of the body, but in vain.
Sources said such an incident has come to light in Begusarai district for the second time in the past three months.
