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Assam teacher on poll duty found dead in forest after missing for 10 days: Cops
A partially decomposed body of a 49-year-old primary school teacher, who went missing while on polling duty on April 9, was found in a remote forest area of Karbi Anglong
A partially decomposed body of a 49-year-old primary school teacher, who went missing while on polling duty 10 days ago, was found in a remote forest area of Karbi Anglong, police said on Sunday, adding that the cause of death will be ascertained after a post-mortem.
Assam voted for its sixteenth legislative assembly on April 9. Police officers identified the deceased as Cornelius Kindo, a resident of Dhansiri Bazar in Diphu and a school teacher at Kathalguri Nepali Basti Primary School.
A group of wood collectors spotted the body on Sunday deep inside a dense and remote forested hill area near Rongwong while heading towards the hills. “Locals informed the police, following which a team reached the spot and the body was later identified by education department officials,” Karbi Anglong’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pushpraj Singh said.
Kindo was deployed as a third polling officer at the Charpoh Kathar Primary School polling station in the Howraghat Legislative Assembly constituency.
“He had reportedly complained of feeling unwell during duty hours and left the polling station premises. He did not return, prompting concern among fellow polling personnel and local authorities,” police officers said on Sunday.
A missing complaint was registered at the Rongwong Police Station after Kindo went missing around noon on April 9 while polling was underway. Police teams had launched a search operation with drones across the surrounding forested and hilly areas, but failed to trace him.
Singh said a preliminary investigation suggests that Kindo may have been suffering from neurological issues and could have lost consciousness before collapsing in the forest.
“There are no visible signs of kidnapping or any other criminal activity at this stage. It appears that he may have wandered into the forest after falling ill. However, the exact cause of death will be established only after the post-mortem,” Singh said.
He added that the family members of the deceased were informed and that further investigation is underway to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to his disappearance and death.
Meanwhile, locals in Diphu said that Kindo going missing while on active election duty and his body being found nearly 25 kilometres away after 10 days is not an ordinary incident, and raised concerns over the safety of polling personnel deployed in remote and forested regions of the state.
Police said all angles are being examined, and further clarity is expected once the post-mortem report is out.
