Vikramaditya
Sri Vijaya Puram, Oct. 17: In a remarkable breakthrough, the Police team of Police Station Humfrigunj, under the leadership of SI Gaurav Banerjee, has successfully cracked what initially appeared to be a case of suicide, revealing it to be a well-planned murder. The case pertains to the mysterious death of Mr. Anurag Toppo, a private labourer residing at Sippighat, whose body was found hanging in his rented house on October 10, 2025, around 9:00 PM.
The case was first reported by a resident of Sippighat, who informed the police over the telephone that a young man named Mr. Anurag Toppo had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in the rented house of one Annadurai.
Acting swiftly, ASI Suleman Beck and the police team reached the spot and recorded the statement of Mr. Ritesh Kujur (23 yrs), a private worker from Nabagram, who lived with the deceased and two others — Mr. Shahil Dhan of Bakultala and Mr. Nirenter Ram of Nabagram.
According to Mr. Ritesh’s initial statement, he had been away at Billiground for work since October 6 and returned on the night of October 10, when he found his friend Shahil Dhan standing near the door and Anurag hanging from the ceiling pipe with a yellow plastic rope. They immediately brought him down and tried to loosen the noose, but Anurag was already dead. Believing it to be a suicide linked to emotional distress over a relationship with a married woman, Ritesh and others had no suspicion of foul play at the time.
Based on this statement, the police registered UDFIR of unnatural death and began further investigation. The police team conducted a detailed examination of the scene, collected several evidences and sent the body for post-mortem examination (PME) at GB Pant Hospital.
As per online FIR the post-mortem was conducted by Dr. Vikram S., MBBS, M.D., Senior Resident, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, ANIIMS, who found inconsistencies between the ligature mark and the recovered rope. He noted that the ligature mark did not match the rough texture of the rope and that internal hemorrhaging in the neck area suggested death by strangulation, possibly using a smoother object such as a wire. The PME report, received by PS Humfrygunj on October 15, 2025, confirmed the cause of death as “asphyxia due to strangulation.”
According to FIR, with this critical finding, the police upgraded the case from suicide to murder under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. Acting on this development, the investigation team, guided by SI Gaurav Banerjee, re-examined all suspects, re-visited the crime scene, and thoroughly reviewed electronic and physical evidence.
As per Humfrygunj village sources, through sustained interrogation and scientific analysis, the police gathered sufficient circumstantial and forensic evidence linking the deceased’s friend Mr. Shahil Dhan to the crime. Confronted with irrefutable proof, the accused finally confessed to the murder, admitting to having strangled Anurag following a heated argument over personal disputes.
A PRI member of Humfrygunj told Andaman Sheekha, the accused was arrested on October 16, 2025, bringing the case to a decisive turn. “The commendable efforts of the investigation team of PS Humfrygunj, particularly under the leadership of SI Gaurav Banerjee, have transformed what initially seemed an “open-and-shut” suicide case into a solved cold-blooded murder,” he said. Further details are awaited.
