Sign in

Missing soldier found dead on rail tracks in Ambala

A 33-year-old soldier who went missing was found dead on railway tracks near Ambala's Shahpur village. The cause of death is being investigated.

Updated on: Sep 9, 2023, 24:41:34 IST
By , Ambala
Share
Share via
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
Copy link
  • copy link

Missing since Wednesday night, a 33-year-old lance havildar was found dead on railway tracks under mysterious circumstances near Ambala’s Shahpur village on Thursday.

A 33-year-old lance havildar who has been for three days was found dead on railway tracks in Ambala’s Shahpur village. (HT File)
A 33-year-old lance havildar who has been for three days was found dead on railway tracks in Ambala’s Shahpur village. (HT File)

Hailing from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur, the soldier was posted in Ambala Cantonment in May last year.

Police said after he didn’t return to his unit on Wednesday night, a missing person complaint was received at the Parao police station and an FIR was lodged under Section 346 of the Indian Penal Code.

ASI Balkar Singh, a duty officer at the station, said after the case, they started tracing the soldier’s mobile phone and around 11 pm, a WhatsApp message hailing Pakistan was received from his number on his wife’s phone.

On Thursday evening, the Government Railway Police (GRP) found an unidentified body next to the Ambala-Delhi rail line and moved it to the mortuary of their station.

Later, army officers arrived and claimed the disfigured body as the missing lance havildar. The body was shifted to the civil hospital in Ambala Cantt, where inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPc were initiated.

Ambala Cantt DSP Aashish Chaudhary said an autopsy was conducted on Friday in the presence of military police and relatives, while the probe was being carried out by Parao police, as the missing person FIR was lodged there.

“The content and other details of the WhatsApp text message are being verified by police teams,” the DSP said.

On the other side, cops, assisted by the scene of crime team, visited the site where the body was recovered to recreate the incident and an opinion was submitted.

SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said, “The scene of crime team has apprised us that the injuries on the body appear to be due to collision with a train. The board of doctors’ opinion suggests that the injuries are ante-mortem in nature and sufficient to cause death. Thus, any mala fide angle can be ruled out in the initial probe. It has also come to fore that the deceased bought life insurance a couple of days before his death. We are verifying details and a probe is underway on all angles.”

Meanwhile, in a statement, Army’s Western Command said their soldier was found dead nearly 10 km from Ambala Cantonment Railway Station and the exact cause of death was being ascertained by formal investigation.