Patna: The body of Laxman Sadhu Shinde, a 55-year-old businessman from Pune, was discovered under suspicious circumstances along a roadside in Bihar’s Jehanabad district, police said on Monday. A formal investigation has been launched following the recovery.
Shinde had travelled to Patna from Pune on April 11, arriving at around 5pm on IndiGo flight 6E653. According to a complaint filed by his brother-in-law, Vishal Lavji Lokhande, Shinde called his wife, Ratna Prabha Laxman Shinde, at around 7.30pm to inform her that he had been picked up from the airport by an acquaintance named Shivraj Sagi and was en route to Coal India in Jharkhand in a car sent by him.
That was the last time the family heard directly from him. When his wife attempted to contact him again at around 9.30pm, the call went unanswered. A later call at 10.30pm was reportedly answered by an unidentified individual who claimed Shinde had gone to the bathroom. Subsequent attempts to reach him failed.
A missing person complaint was initially registered on April 12 at Kothrud police station in Pune. Lokhande then travelled to Patna the following day with a police officer and filed another complaint at Patna’s Airport Police Station.
“Shinde was reported missing on April 12, and we received the complaint on April 13,” said Santosh Kumar Sharma, station in-charge at Airport Police Station. “His body was recovered in Jehanabad and has been identified as the same individual reported missing from Pune.”
Jehanabad Superintendent of Police Arvind Pratap Singh confirmed that a body had been discovered on Saturday morning but was unidentified at the time. “A UD [unnatural death] case was registered at Ghosi police station. The body was identified the next day,” Singh said, adding that police teams from Patna, Nalanda and Jehanabad are jointly investigating the case.
“Patna police is mainly investigating this case. A case was registered at the airport. We have received information about the places where the criminals were moving. The criminals must have taken him around Patna, Nalanda and Jehanabad. Who called him, how did he come — investigation is ongoing,” the SP added. He also noted that the involvement of cyber criminals could not be ruled out.
According to police sources, cyber criminals had lured Shinde to Patna by impersonating a friend. Upon his arrival at Patna airport on April 11, he was received by the accused, who claimed that a car had been sent by his friend. He was then taken to a secluded house in Nalanda, where he was held hostage and assaulted. The criminals reportedly attempted to extort money from his family.
Meanwhile, police received a tip-off about an unidentified body discovered near Mananpur in Ghosi on April 12. A Patna Police team, along with Shinde’s family members, reached the site and confirmed the identity of the deceased.
Police are currently questioning the family members and continuing their investigation. It is suspected that the cyber criminals, having failed in their extortion attempt, killed Shinde to conceal their identity. The Bihar Police Headquarters is also monitoring the case closely. Patna SSP Avkash Kumar and other senior officials are overseeing the probe.
