Man Who Filed Missing Report Turns Out to Be Killer
Key Points:
- Chandan Bhogta murdered brother-in-law, then filed false missing complaint
- Skeletal remains recovered from Basha forest in Tundi after a month
- Accused confesses crime was linked to an alleged illicit affair
GIRIDIH – Police in Giridih have cracked a month-old missing person case that turned out to be a murder. Investigators recovered the skeletal remains of a young man from a forest and arrested his own brother-in-law for the killing.
The accused had himself lodged the missing complaint a month earlier. Officers later discovered that the same man orchestrated the disappearance to cover up the crime.
The victim was identified as 35-year-old Shankar Singh, also known as Bindu, a resident of Siyarangi village under Pirtand police station. He was allegedly taken from Pirtand to the Basha forest area under Tundi police station in neighbouring Dhanbad district before being killed.
His brother-in-law, Chandan Kumar Bhogta, has been named as the killer. The case came to light on Thursday when Bhogta led police to the Basha forest and skeletal remains were recovered on his identification.
Bhogta, a resident of Sirsa in Madhupur, has been arrested and has confessed to the crime. Investigators say the killing may have stemmed from an alleged extramarital affair.
According to police, Bhogta left Pirtand with Singh on June 20, telling family members he was taking him to Dhanbad. He allegedly strangled Singh using a stone and a towel after reaching the Tundi forest.
Following the killing, Bhogta went to the Pirtand police station and filed a missing person’s report for Singh. He continued misleading both police and the victim’s in-laws for nearly a month.
Pirtand police station in-charge Jitendra Kumar Singh, along with Tundi police station in-charge Umashankar, led the team that reached Basha forest on Thursday with Bhogta. The skeletal remains were recovered at the spot he identified.
Family members of the victim were seen grieving inconsolably at the scene. Relatives said Bhogta had repeatedly changed his statements over the past month, which eventually raised suspicion among Singh’s family.
Acting on the family’s request, police questioned Bhogta more firmly, after which he broke down and revealed the entire sequence of events. He then led investigators to the crime scene in Tundi.
The recovered remains have been sent to Giridih for a post-mortem examination. Police said further investigation into the case is continuing.
This is not the first case this year in which family disputes in the eastern region have turned violent, with investigators citing similar patterns in other recent cases. Officials have urged families to report suspicious behaviour promptly rather than accepting inconsistent accounts from relatives.
