A 25-year-old youth was found dead under mysterious circumstances on the railway tracks between Rajendra Nagar and Gulzarbagh railway stations under the jurisdiction of Rajendra Nagar government railway police (GRP) in the state capital on Saturday.

The police ascertained the identity of the deceased as Bal Mukund alias Satyam, a resident of Bisanpur village in Vaishali district. The deceased's body was handed over to the relatives after a post-mortem at the Patna Medical College and Hospital on Sunday.

The station house officer (SHO) of Rajendra Nagar GRP, Ajay Kumar, said on Sunday that a case of unnatural death has been lodged and an investigation launched to ascertain the cause of death of the youth, who was preparing for competitive examinations.

Bal Mukund, also known as Satyam, was living with his parents at Hanuman Nagar (Sector K). On Friday, he went missing from the Bazar Samiti area where he had gone to meet his friends. The victim's father, Anil Kumar Singh, reported the matter to the Patrakar Nagar police station when he didn't return home late on Friday night.

The Rajendra Nagar SHO said prima facie it appeared that he met with an accident while crossing the railway tracks. His body bore external injuries, which suggested that he was hit by a running train. "The body was found on the railway tracks around 7am on Saturday, a day after he went missing," he told The Telegraph.

The victim's family, however, apprehended that Bal Mukund's friends killed him and his body was thrown on the railway tracks to make it look like a train accident. "Had the Patrakar Nagar police acted swiftly and searched for him, my son would have been alive," lamented Singh.

A police officer posted at the Patrakar Nagar police station said a missing case was lodged on the statement of the victim's father. The last location of Bal Mukund's mobile phone was traced near Bazar Samiti where he had gone to meet his friends. "We tried to elicit information from some of his friends but in vain," the police officer said.

He said the police would quiz the deceased's friends, who were absconding after the recovery of the body from the railway tracks. The police officer didn't rule out the involvement of his friends as one of them tried to hide information and misled the police. "We are keeping a close watch on them," the officer added.