In a development that appears straight out of a crime thriller, three unidentified bodies buried nearly 15 years ago in Assam’s Sribhumi district were exhumed on Wednesday for DNA profiling as part of the probe into the disappearance of a Tripura school teacher in 2011.
The exhumation was carried out at a government cemetery in Sribhumi following an order from a district court in Tripura. A team from Tripura Police, officials of the Sribhumi district administration and family members of the missing teacher were present during the process. His family later allegedly received phone calls from people claiming to have kidnapped him.
Police said one unidentified body was recovered from the Son Beel area of Sribhumi district around the time of Som’s disappearance in 2011 and was buried after legal formalities were completed.
Som left home for work one day but never returned, according to police sources. Assam Police officials said they assisted with the process following the court’s order.
As directed by the court, bone samples were collected from the remains and will be sent to a forensic laboratory for DNA testing. The samples will be matched with DNA collected from the teacher’s family members in Agartala. However, Som did not return even after the money was paid, and for years there was no information about his whereabouts. The DNA samples collected from the exhumed remains will now be examined and compared with those of Som’s family members.
The alleged kidnappers demanded ransom, and the family paid around Rs 25 lakh on different occasions.
The family later approached the court seeking further investigation into the case.
