Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Jul 14: Sneha Debnath, a 19-year-old student from Tripura who had been missing in the national capital for six days, was found dead in the Yamuna River on Sunday, police confirmed.
Sneha, a second-year BSc Mathematics student at Delhi University’s Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, had been residing with her family in the Paryavaran Complex area. She reportedly went missing on the morning of July 7 after informing her mother that she was going to drop her friend Pitunia at Sarai Rohilla Railway Station.
According to the complaint filed by her elder sister Bipasha Debnath, Sneha had left home around 5:15 am in a cab driven by Subhe Chandra. “When we tried calling her at 8:45 am, her phone was switched off. Pitunia later informed us that she never met Sneha that morning,” Bipasha stated.
When the family contacted the cab driver, he told them that Sneha had asked to be dropped off at Signature Bridge in Wazirabad. However, there was no trace of her at the location.
The family feared that Sneha might have been kidnapped. Delhi Police and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) launched an extensive search operation across a 7-km stretch, but initial efforts were unsuccessful.
Eyewitnesses later reported seeing a young woman standing alone on the Signature Bridge around the time Sneha went missing. Following this, a joint search operation by NDRF and local police was carried out from Nigam Bodh Ghat to Noida.
Sneha’s body was eventually recovered near the Geeta Colony area in east Delhi. A note shared by her family revealed that she had expressed her intent to jump from the bridge.
Due to poor CCTV coverage in the vicinity, investigators were unable to track Sneha’s movements after she exited the cab.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha had earlier taken cognizance of the case and directed authorities to act swiftly. “The report of Miss Sneha Debnath, a resident of Sabroom, who has reportedly gone missing in New Delhi, has come to the notice of the Chief Minister’s Office. Following this, necessary instructions have been promptly issued to the police to take immediate and appropriate action,” he had stated on social media.