Missing school teacher found dead inside Khunti forest

Ranchi: The body of a 39-year-old missing school teacher, Anand Kumar, was recovered from a forest in Chandidih village, Khunti district, following an intensive search operation, including the use of high-tech drones and mobile phone tracking devices, by police on Saturday.

Kumar, who resided in the Lobin Bagan colony, taught at the Springdale Public School and operated a coaching centre from his home. According to family members, he left home on his bike around 4 pm Friday for his routine outing in the forest but never returned.

After they were alerted, police launched a search operation on Friday night itself. They tracked Kumar's location through his active mobile phone signal. Despite deploying drones to survey a two to three-square-kilometre area, the dense forest canopy and thick undergrowth hampered all aerial surveillance efforts.

Talking about the incident, Khunti SP Aman Kumar said, "The body has been sent for the post-mortem to determine the cause of death. Initial investigation suggests strangulation as the cause. We are investigating the case from multiple angles and questioning the relatives and friends of the deceased."