Chennai: Had it not been for the railway police’s efforts, the city police would have taken more than 72-days to trace a missing sub-inspector of the traffic wing, who was found dead in the railway tracks near Mambalam last year.
Thanks to the missing persons’ database of the state police, which became crucial for GRP (Government Railway Police) to establish the identity, while the family was hoping for Teynampet police, which was handling the missing complaint, to trace him.
The deceased V. Murugesh Kumar, (49), attached to Guindy traffic investigation wing, left for duty on September 18 last year but never returned home. His wife Bhuvaneshwari preferred a complaint on September 20.
While Teynampet police sat on the complaint, Guindy Police (law&order) did receive a communiqué from Egmore GRP with Murugesh Kumar’s picture as an unidentified male body. They ignored it.
When the body was disposed of after a month’s time, Karthik, a GRP policeman, was able to match the unidentified body with that of missing Murugesh Kumar using the database. The finding was verified with Teynampet police who called for Bhuvaneshwari to confirm her husband’s identity on November 28.
“Even after the case was closed on my husband’s death, none of his colleagues visited us. It is only after I met the police commissioner last month, I was able to get the death certificate and legal heir certificate. I wonder as to how the Guindy police could not recognise my husband,” Bhuvaneshwari told DC.
The bereaved family is also yet to avail itself of any assistance from the state as in the cases of other policemen who died on duty. Murugesh Kumar is survived by his mother ailing from cancer, wife and two sons aged 12 and 6.
