Patna, Dec 27 (IANS): Two persons facing murder charge were acquitted by the civil court in Bihar's Chapra district after the police found the 'murder' victim alive.
Indrajeet Baidha, the sub divisional police officer (SDPO) of Madhaura, who cracked the case, said a woman named Sweety Devi and her minor son disappeared from Kakarhat village under Derni police station on May 15, 2019.
Sweety had told her in-laws that she was visiting her parents' home at Bajitpur village but never reached there.
Baitha said: "Two days after the disappearance of Sweety, a woman was found murdered on the banks of the Dabra river near Hakma village.
"When Sweety's father Vijay Singh was called for identification, he identified the dead body as Sweety through her anklets. Singh also blamed her in-laws for the murder. After the allegations, the then investigating officer Shivnath Ram arrested two persons, including a woman on the charge of murder."
When Baitha took the charge as the SDPO Madhaurah, he detected certain missing elements in the case. He suspected that the dead body of the woman that was identified by her father was not the actual victim and there was no whereabouts her 7-year-old son.
"As it was a missing link, I changed the investigating officer of the case and handed over to Vikas Kumar, the SHO of the Bheldi police station. We suspected that the anklets could not be a conclusive way of identification."
"During the investigation, it came to light that Sweety had gone to Mumbai. However, her location was not established. A police team from Bheldi police station mounted surveillance on Sweety's family, and from the local intelligence, came to know about her returning to Muzaffarpur via the Pawan express train. Subsequently, a trap was laid and police nabbed her along with minor son on Friday," Baitha said.
"We presented her in the civil court, which immediately gave the order of acquittal to the two persons who had been languishing in the jail for the past one and half years," he said.
The department has also recommended an inquiry against former investigating officer Shivnath Ram's shoddy probe.
Sweety got married to one Manbodh Kumar in 2008. He was mentally unstable. The two acquitted persons are Kumar's elder brother and his wife.