Burnt skeleton found in Bhondsi, triggers panic

Gurgaon: A fully burnt skeleton was found in the ruins of an abandoned building in Bhondsi village along Sohna-Alwar highway on Sunday. Police seized the remains and cordoned off the area. It is not clear whether the skeleton was of a human or animal. A sample was sent to labs for a DNA test.
Around 5.30am on Sunday, residents of Bhondsi village spotted smoke emerging from an abandoned building and called police, who rushed a team to the spot. There they found and seized the remains of the skeleton and cordoned off the area. The village is already under strict vigil after the tension following the attack on a family from the minority community on Holi.

“At around 5.30am, I spotted smoke rising from the bushes near an abandoned building as soon as I came out of my house, and called police,” said an ex-serviceman, whose house is located across the road from the abandoned building. He said a police team arrived quickly and took possession of the remains of the skeleton found there.

“A burnt skeleton was found near an old abandoned building in Bhondsi. It has been sent to a lab for tests to find out if it belongs to a human or not. Police has initiated action under Section 174 (unnatural death) of CrPC,” said DCP (south) Himanshu Garg, adding so far, they have not received any complaint, neither is any person reported missing in the village. “We’re checking up with police stations of neighbouring districts to figure out if there is a missing person’s report. Further action will be taken based on the post-mortem and/or missing person’s reports,” he added.

According to police, the burnt remains looks like a human skeleton, probably of a child or a midget, but they will wait for the DNA report to confirm.

Earlier in the day, a WhatsApp message, originating from a handle registered under Muslim Ekta Manch, claiming that a body was burnt in an old mosque in Bhondsi, spread in the area, creating panic and tension. In reality, Gurgaon district has around 7-8 mosques, but none in Bhondsi.

“The abandoned building where the skeleton was found belongs to the Waqf Board,” claimed Shahzad Khan of Muslim Ekta Manch, but this was disputed by cops and villagers. Police claimed the building was an old abandoned structure, while the sarpanch of Bhondsi, Dharamvir, said the building was a ‘sarai’ (traveller’s guesthouse) in old days, which is corroborated in revenue records. “Revenue records mention it as a sarai,” said Dharamvir, adding no one is missing from his village, so the body could have been brought there from elsewhere.