Missing accounts officer found dead on Palam railway track, family suspects foul play

An Indian Defence Accounts Services Officer who had gone missing from Monday, allegedly committed suicide by jumping before a train in west Delhi's Palam area, police said on Thursday.

Police said the officer, Jitender Kumar Jha, was staying with his family in Shivali Apartment in Sector-9 of Dwarka. His body was found on Thursday afternoon by Government Railway Police who later informed Delhi Police.

"A suicide note was also recovered from Jitender Kumar Jha's possession in which it was written that no one is to blame for his death, and he is committing suicide of his own will due to depression," Deputy Commissioner of Police Shibesh Singh told IANS.

Jha had gone for a morning walk on Monday from his residence but did not return. His wife, Bhawana Jha later informed police and filed a missing complaint. Despite scanning dozens of CCTV footage including metro stations of Dwarka, no clue was found.

According to Bhawana, he had been disturbed for the last couple of months due to being transferred six times within four years. He was posted in the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) and earlier posted with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Labour ministry and CPWD.

"He was initially posted in Ministry of Home Affairs three times," she said.

Six teams of Delhi Police were searching for Jha and got input from Bihar police on Wednesday that he was last seen in Gandhi Museum in Patna as per the CCTV footage, the officer said.

"It appears that Jha committed suicide by jumping before a running train, but we will conduct the body post-mortem on Friday to ascertain if there is any foul play behind his death," Singh added.

Jha, a native of Bihar, got married in 2006 and has a son and a daughter.

However, Jha's relatives suspect foul play and allege he was murdered before being thrown on the railway track.

--IANS

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