The Hindu : New Delhi News : Lance Naik scripts his own fake death, lands in jail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 01, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Lance Naik scripts his own fake death, lands in jail

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 31. A Lance Naik with the IIIrd Grenadiers who used to write scripts for Hindi films is alleged to have scripted his own fake death after being named in a criminal case in Haryana. To prove that he had died, the accused murdered a ragpicker, burnt his body and dumped it on the railway tracks near Nabi Karim along with his identity proofs. He was, however, arrested from Jafarpur Kalan in South-West Delhi on Sunday.

According to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Delhi), M.M. Oberoi, the charred body was found on January 22. The head of the deceased had been crushed. The police recovered a partially burnt purse from his trousers, in which they found a soldiers' railway ticket, a bank-slip, a small pocket diary purportedly of Lance Naik Jai Pal, a resident of Gurgaon, and a telephone number. Enquiries revealed that the bank slip belonged to Grenadier Purshottam Singh and that the railway ticket was of Jai Pal, both with the IIIrd Grenadiers at Bhatinda in Punjab. Purshottam, who was on leave, was found to be at his residence, while Jai Pal could not be traced. The telephone number recovered from the purse led the police to his sister. Taking the deceased to be Jai Pal, the police contacted his family members for identification. On January 25, they identified the body to be of Jai Pal, after which it was handed over to them following post-mortem.

But, the same day the police got a call from one Amit Kanodia of IIIrd Grenadiers claiming that someone identifying himself to be Jai Pal called from Muzaffarnagar for leave extension. This raised suspicion that Jai Pal was still alive and hence the police again took the body in their custody. They traced the public booth from where the call had been made to Kanodia. From his photograph, the booth owner identified Jai Pal as the caller. Meanwhile, the deceased was identified as Ravi Bangali, a ragpicker at the railway station.

On a specific tip-off that Jai Pal was spotted in his village at Jafarpur Kalan, the police raided the place and detained him. During interrogation, he confessed to having murdered Ravi to fake his death. He disclosed that his in-laws were holding him responsible for his wife's death in June 2002. Besides, he was wanted by the Jhajjar police of Haryana in a case in which two live grenades allegedly supplied by him were found in his relative's possession. A non-bailable warrant was issued against him in this connection.

To evade the police, Jai Pal came to Delhi and checked in an Army transit camp at New Delhi railway station on January 20. He then stole the identity card, certificates and other documents of a fellow Army personnel, Bhaskar Sethi, using which he applied for the job of a field officer with a private security agency and got an identity card made. Further, he contacted Ravi, the rag picker, whom he had met in December last. On January 21, Jai Pal made him consume liquor and then killed him by repeatedly hitting his head on the railway tracks. He then changed Ravi's clothes with his and set the body afire.

Jai Pal left for Muzaffarnagar on January 24 from where he made the call for extension of leave. During interrogation, the accused claimed that he had written scripts for some films.

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