Mystery around missing biker in DND accident case, search on

Delhi Police officers, firemen and divers from National Disaster Response Force are continuing the search and rescue operation launched on Sunday for Anshuman Puri, 42, who is believed to have drowned in the Yamuna after his Harley Davidson bike was allegedly hit by a car on the DND flyway.

The accident had been reported early on Sunday and the police found both the vehicles on the bridge over Yamuna. The police identified the owner of the bike as Puri and went looking for him, but he had yet to be traced. The car, which is registered in the name of one Bhappe Singh of Goyala Dairy near Dwarka, was being driven by his relative Nishant Bhatia, police said. However, the police have to trace Bhatia.

His father, Vinod Bhatia, told the police that Nishant was driving the car when the accident took place and that he had been untraceable ever since. The accident took place when both the vehicles were on their way to Delhi from Noida.

Investigators told HT that they do not know if Puri was dead or alive. “We have to find a body first. We have searched the entire river stretch near the accident spot on DND,” an investigator said. He said it might be possible that somebody else could be riding the bike but it would only be confirmed after they trace Puri.

Puri’s house in Sarita Vihar is locked and his cellphone switched off. Neighbours say they are hopeful he would return soon.On Monday afternoon, some of his relatives turned up at the Sunlight Colony police station.

Three persons related to Puri, including his cousin who returned to Delhi from Leh after knowing about his disappearance, were present during the search operation on Monday. The cousin refused to be identified and talk about the case when HT approached him.

The police were also investigating, if it was a murder conspiracy. They were also checking hospitals in their search for Puri. Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (southeast), said that even as the search operation was on, they have filed a missing complaint about Puri and an injured biker as well.

“Puri’s photograph that is available with us is being uploaded on zonal integrated police network (Zipnet) along with his details. We will also circulate the copies of Puri’s photograph to other police stations across Delhi-NCR, seeking their help,” said Biswal.

Another possibility on which the police are working is that the biker’s body was dumped at some unknown place by a passer-by who may have panicked when the biker died on way to the hospital.