‘Murdered’ man found alive, held for friend's death

AGRA: On October 18 last year, a headless body with the right hand lopped off was discovered in Usmanpur village of Agra district. Investigators concluded, on the basis of some documents found on the body and his clothes, that Bablu Singh, 28, had been murdered. On Saturday, after villagers told policemen that the dead was seen in the village, policemen rounded up Bablu Singh.He was not murdered – he had murdered a mentally unsound acquaintance, and used the body to stage his own murder, he said. Singh is set to be produced in court on Monday.
Bablu Singh’s family had taken a complaint to the police, and an FIR had been registered against unidentified men in a case of murder. The family had also been repeatedly appealing to police to expedite investigation and nab the culprits soon. Bablu Singh’s kin approached local politicians, who in turn spoke with policemen.
Policemen, however, were unable to make any headway with their investigation of this murder case. There was nothing to go by – some villagers said the man was well and alive, still roaming the village.
“Last Friday, a few villagers approached police claiming they had seen Bablu in the village. We took the matter lightly earlier, but more and more people appeared to have spotted Bablu. We conducted a search, and managed to lay our hands on him in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. A man who is his close aide was also arrested,” SSP Rajesh Modak said.
On questioning, Singh confessed that he had borrowed money from a mentally unwell acquaintance and had no desire to return the money. He said he had killed the acquaintance, Rahul. He admitted that one of his two brothers and five friends had aided him in the murder on October 17, 2014.
What gave Bablu Singh away, ultimately, was his carelessness in matters of detail – while Singh himself has his name tattooed on his left hand, he had cut off the right hand of the man he had murdered.
“Villagers said Bablu had his name tattooed on his left hand. The dead body’s right hand had been cut off, and the left one bore no tattoo. Bablu and his friends cut the wrong hand, raising eyebrows among some villagers,” SSP Rajesh Modak said.