‘Same gang behind two skeleton cases in Chhapra, Muzaffarpur’

PATNA: Muzaffarpur superintendent of rail police (SRP) Sanjay Kumar Singh has said the two cases of recovery of human skeletons from Muzaffarpur and Chhapra in October and November this year are linked to each other.

According to the SRP, GRP teams have reached Ballia in UP, Motihari in Bihar and Siliguri in West Bengal for investigation into the skeleton smuggling case.

It may be recalled a GRP team recovered 16 human skulls and 34 femurs from a passenger’s luggage at Chhapra Junction on Monday. The passenger, Sanjay Prasad, was arrested.

The 29-year-old told interrogators he had collected the skulls and femurs from one Amar Kumar at a river ghat in Ballia, boarded Ballia-Sealdah Expressed train and got down at Chhapra to catch a bus to Siliguri where he lived.

He also told interrogators that he was about to smuggle the skulls and femurs to Bhutan for use by ‘tantriks’. He confessed to having smuggled such consignments to Bhutan twice in the past.

Earlier on October 19 this year, the GRP at Muzaffarpur Junction had recovered a human skull from a bag abandoned inside a general compartment of Lichchhavi Express. The skull has been sent for forensic tests.

SRP Singh told TOI over the phone on Wednesday the technical investigation initiated after the recovery in Chhapra indicated that Sanjay had reached Muzaffarpur on October 19. “Things will become clearer once Sanjay’s accomplices are nabbed,” he said and added police were trying to track those involved in collecting skeletons.

Meanwhile, reports said Amar had been arrested from Haldi police station area in Ballia. However, SRP Singh refused to either confirm or deny it.