Jan Suraaj digital manager found dead in Ranchi a day after he went missing

Ranchi: Devpalik Gupta, a 21-year-old digital communication manager for Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party, who went missing from a train from Ranchi to Patna, was found dead under suspicious circumstances.

According to Jan Suraaj, Devpalik went missing from a train while travelling from Ranchi to Patna on Monday. He was found dead on Tuesday afternoon in a forested area near Muri Junction in Ranchi.

Kumar Saurabh Singh, a national spokesperson for Jan Suraaj, confirmed that his body has been discovered and stated that the police are investigating the matter. However, it remains to be seen whether this was an accident or a criminal act.

Originally from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) in Delhi, Devpalik Gupta held a key role in managing digital media for the Jan Suraaj party.

According to his family and colleagues, he was travelling to Patna on Monday aboard the Ranchi-Patna Jan Shatabdi Express (Train No. 12366), occupying seat 50 in coach C-2, accompanied by two associates.

At around 3 p.m. that day, shortly before the train reached Muri station, he went toward the pantry car to place a food order but never returned to his seat.

When his companions began searching for him after some time, they found his mobile phone switched off. A search was conducted throughout the train and at Muri station, with the assistance of the Train Ticket Examiner (TTE) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, but no trace of him was found.

Upon reaching Bokaro, the passengers filed a complaint via the 'Rail Madad' app. It is alleged that a jurisdictional dispute between the RPF and the Government Railway Police (GRP) caused a delay of over six hours in registering an FIR. Ultimately, the FIR was filed in Ranchi at 9 p.m. on Monday.

Devpalik's colleagues have levelled serious allegations against the police administration, claiming they were lax during the initial hours and failed to conduct an intensive search operation throughout the night.

Following the incident, Jan Suraaj national spokesperson Kumar Saurabh Singh took to X, tagging Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the Ranchi district administration, and urged immediate action.

Currently, a joint team of the police and the GRP has taken custody of the body and is completing the necessary legal formalities.

Further investigation will be conducted based on the postmortem report.

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