Mystery shrouds the death of a 21-year-old youth from Sector 45, whose body was found in a ditch near Sector 48 today. According to Chandigarh Police, no injury marks were found on the body of Manav, a third-year computer science student of Chitkara Institute, Baddi. The post mortem will be conducted on Sunday.

Alleging it to be a case of murder, Manav’s father Ramesh Bal, a Punjab government employee, has demanded the registration of a murder case. Manav was missing since Friday night after he was dropped by the Institute’s bus near BSNL Chowk, Sector 48.

At 5:30 pm on Friday, Manav’s mother Poonam Bal received a call from his phone. “The caller identified himself as the Dean of Chitkara Institute and said Manav would return late in the evening since he had entered into an altercation with some students at the Institute,” Ramesh Bal told Newsline. After that Manav’s mobile phone remained switched off.

After an hour (6:30 pm), a girl called up Manav’s mother, saying that he would not return home and would stay with his friends in Baddi. The girl was reportedly known to Manav’s mother.

When contacted, Dean of Chitkara Institute Col (Retd) Y C Chibber told Newsline that he had confiscated the mobile phones of four students, including Manav, who had allegedly entered into an altercation with a student of the Institute. “We had received a complaint from a student (name withheld) alleging that a student had phoned him and hurled abuses at him. Manav was a friend of the offending caller. An inquiry was ordered and the mobile phones of four students including Manav were confiscated,” said Col Chibber.

The Dean said, Manav and his three friends were “not in a stable condition”. He added that they were sent late (at 6:45 pm) and he was unaware what happened after that. Asked whether he had called up from Manav’s mobile to his family, Chibber said that he had made phone calls to the family members of four students but was “not sure” whether he had called from Manav’s mobile.

Kulbir Singh, driver of the bus who had dropped the students including Manav, told Newsline that some students in the bus were arguing and fighting with each other. “On my intervention, they refrained from fighting. A boy and girl who were involved in the fighting got down near Sector 48. Three other boys got down near BSNL Chowk, Sector 48, at 9:30 pm,” said the driver who does not know the names of those involved in the fight. Late in the evening, the girl who had called up Manav’s parents, was questioned by Chandigarh Police.

According to sources, the girl has stated that she got down near Sector 48 and Manav, too, had gotten down with a friend near BSNL Chowk. After that, she has no clue about Manav’s whereabouts. Chandigarh Police had not filed a case till the filing of this report.

‘Manav had fight on January 23, told father he was scared’