The sheer lack of coordination between the Delhi Police and its counterparts in neighbouring States has once again come to fore. The 21-year-old aspiring fashion designing student, Prachi Dhamija alias Sakshi, who had gone missing on April 20 from her hostel in East Delhi’s laxmi Nagar, was found two days later near railway tracks in Abohar district in Punjab under mysterious circumstances.
But the Punjab Police, which failed to identify the deceased, cremated the body in Punjab. The victim was later identified when a person from Abohar, who had read about the body of the girl being found in local newspapers, informed the Delhi Police when he came to the Capital for some work. On Saturday, the girl was identified by her family members through a book and other belongings recovered by police. The postmortem examination report has not been made available to the Delhi Police.
Police said on May 3, a 34-year-old native of Abohar, Rajesh Kumar, who had read the news about the girl’s body found on railway tracks, arrived on last Friday and somehow came to know about the same girl here also. “He informed the police about the matter following which the investigating officer of the Delhi Police along with the family members went to identify the body,” a senior police officer said.
On Saturday, after reaching Abohar, they came to know that the body was cremated as she could not be identified at that time but after checking the belongings of the victim, they confirmed the identity of the woman as their daughter Prachi. “There was a bag along with the victim but the railway police of Punjab did not check it properly. later, the victim’s family members identified the victim after recovering her identity cards, a book related to fashion designing and other belongings recovered from her bag,” said the victim’s brother. “We don’t believe that it was an accidental death or suicide. There is a strong possibility that she was first kidnapped and then murdered. Now we want that the Delhi Police will investigate the matter properly,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police is now probing the matter again and they have started questioning the victim’s friends. They were also trying to ascertain Prachi was alone or accompanied by someone when she went to Punjab. “last time, she was spotted at the Chandni Chowk Metro station in the CCTV footages. We are now scanning the passenger’s list of three trains, which ply on the route in the hours she was in the train,” the officer added.
Prachi, a student of International Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD), Hauz Khas, was a native of Muzaffarnagar of Uttar Pradesh and lived in a girls’ hostel in Vijay Block, laxmi Nagar along with her sister. “The incident took place on April 20 when she had gone to a nearby shop of her locality but did not return. Earlier, the victim’s brother Vivek Arora claimed that they went to Shakarpur police station where the investigation officer demanded a bribe of `2,000 for registering the missing complaint. However, the senior Delhi Police officers denied all these allegations and claimed that they have changed the IO due to the investigation of some other urgent case.