Sunday, 06 November 2022 | PNS | PAURI
The Lakshmanjhula police station in Pauri district has registered a case against the former Station House Officer of Lakshmanjhula police station Santosh Singh Kunwar and Tapovan police post in-charge Ashish Sharma in the case of a missing Agniveer aspirant who is yet to be found after he went missing in August. The case has been booked under sections 342 and 356 of the Indian Penal Code on the orders of Pauri chief judicial magistrate’s court. Chief judicial magistrate Ravi Prakash, on the application of the missing youth’s father Lakshman Singh ordered Lakshmanjhula police station to register the case against Kunwar and Sharma, and investigate the case. The Shrinagar circle officer Shyam Dutt Nautiyal has been made the investigation officer in the case.
It is pertinent to mention that Singh had lodged an application in the CJM court in Pauri requesting that the Pauri SHO should be ordered to register a case against Kunwar, Sharma and others. The applicant had stated that his 19-year old son Kedar Singh had gone to Kotdwar for the Agniveer recruitment rally on August 18 and while returning from there on August 21 had stayed in a hotel in the Rishikesh area with his friend .On the same day in the evening his elder son Gambhir Singh had talked to Kedar who had said that he was alright. On August 22, Gambhir was informed on the phone that Kedar was in the custody of Tapovan police post but when he reached the police post he was told by the police that they did not have any such person in their custody. Later in the evening the then SHO of Lakshmanjhula police station told Gambhir that Kedar had jumped into the Ganga. Singh said that when he and the Gram Pradhan MS Chauhan reached Lakshmanjhula police station, the SHO told them that Kedar was arrested on August 22 by Tapoval police post and handed over to them on the same day. He told them that Kedar had escaped from custody and jumped into the river.
Singh said that he had submitted an application to the Lakshmanjhula police station to search for his missing son and investigate the matter but it was not accepted on August 26. The application was also sent to the DIG and IG on August 29 but no action was taken. Later, Kunwar was removed from his post and attached to the office of the senior superintendent of police. Singh said that the status of his missing son is unclear as his body has not been recovered. The police also failed to present evidence of the youth jumping into the river.
