A constable with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was found dead under mysterious circumstances near the Chandigarh railway station on Thursday. His body was found from under a tree with one end of a rope around his neck and the other tied to the tree behind the Government Railway Police (GRP) station.

“The circumstances are suspicious. The constable might have been strangulated before he was hanged to make it look like a suicide. Moreover, no suicide note was found from the spot,” a GRP official said.

The deceased has been identified as Jai Singh Shekhawat of 13 Battalion and was posted in Arunachal Pradesh. He had come to Chandigarh for a Motor Training and Driving Course which is a must for promotion from constable to head constable.

ITBP officials who later visited the spot said the constable had been admitted to the Composite Hospital within the ITBP complex in Hallomajra on Tuesday after he complained of pain in the abdomen. He ran away from the hospital last evening and the ITBP was looking for him, said an official.

The deceased was a native of Fatehpur Sikri in Rajasthan. His family members have been informed. GRP officials said inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC have been started and the body has been sent for postmortem.

The officials said: “The position of the body leads to suspicion that he could have been murdered. He was found dead on the ground and his feet were not in a position they should have been in case of a suicide.”

* Incompetent GRP officers

The GRP officers at the railway station showed their incompetence in dealing with murder cases. None of the officials were apparently aware of the procedures to be followed in such cases. A Sub-Inspector deputed at the GRP station visited the spot and left within five minutes leaving behind the body unattended and unsecured. GRP and ITBP officials turned up at the spot almost after two hours.

* Chandigarh Police came for help