Journalist Found Dead On Railway Tracks; Female Sub-Inspector Booked For Abetment To Suicide

Journalist Suraj Pandey

Police have arrested a woman sub-inspector for abetment to suicide, more than a week after a 25-year-old journalist was found dead on a railway track in City Kotwali area of Unnao. A male constable booked in the case is currently absconding. Both were suspended earlier.

After initially lodging a murder case against the two police personnel : Sub-Inspector Suneeta Chaurasia and constable Amar Singh - on a complaint filed by the deceased journalist’s mother, police replaced the murder charge (IPC section 302) with abetment to suicide (IPC section 306).

The body of Suraj Pandey, who worked with a Hindi daily, was found on the railway tracks on November 12. Pandey’s mother filed a complaint with the police, accusing S-I Suneeta Chaurasia and constable Amar Singh of killing her son and throwing his body on the railway track.

Pandey’s mother had also alleged in her complaint with the police that constable Amar Singh had threatened her son over the phone a day before he was found dead.

According to police, they found that the journalist was in regular touch with S-I Suneeta and she had also visited his house several times in the past. Suraj wanted to marry Suneeta but she was reportedly against it, said a police officer involved in the investigation.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to investigate the case sought the opinion of a medical-legal expert on the cause of the death. “A medical-legal team recreated the crime scene from where the body was found and came to a conclusion that it was a clear case of suicide. It also stated that injuries found on the victim’s body were caused by train… On the basis of medical-legal expert’s opinion, the case was altered into abetment of suicide case instead of murder,” Superintendent of Police, Unnao, Sureshrao A Kulkarni said.

Police said that both Suneeta and Amar did not provide recording of phone calls they had made to Suraj. They also did not share their WhatsApp chats with police.

“We are sending Suneeta’s cellphone to forensic laboratory for examination,” the SP added.

Suneeta was posted at Bihar police station after being removed from the post of station officer of a woman police station in Unnao around five months ago. Amar Singh was Suneeta’s driver when she was posted at woman police station, said police.