Presumed dead, teen murder accused surrenders in court yr after vanishing in river

Pithoragarh: A teenage boy who vanished into the swirling waters of the Kali river after allegedly murdering a peer in Uttarakhand's Dharchula town last year resurfaced this week — alive, walking into a juvenile court in Pithoragarh to surrender — just as authorities moved to seize his family's property. On Saturday, over a year after the alleged murder, he appeared before the court, ending a disappearance that had long confounded police and haunted a grieving family.

On June 15 last year, Anuj Sistal, 17, from Chhalachhiloso village, was visiting his aunt in Garvyal Khera. He was seated outside her house when the accused, also 17, arrived and began shouting at him. When asked to stop, the boy pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the neck, killing him instantly.

The boy fled towards the international bridge and jumped into the Kali river. Several residents told police they had seen him being swept away by the current. His body was never recovered, and police registered a case under IPC section 302 (murder) at Dharchula police station, treating the accused as missing. Over time, he was presumed dead.

The victim's father, Kundan Singh, rejected that conclusion. He said, "The boy had been spotted in Nepal and his family knew his whereabouts. How did the authorities issue a death certificate without finding his body — our law requires a person to be missing for seven years before they can be legally declared dead."

With no progress in the case for months, public anger grew. In June this year, local organisations, including Gaurav Senani Kalyan Sangathan and several trade unions, staged a protest in Dharchula. The town's suspension bridge was blocked for hours as demonstrators submitted a memorandum to the sub-divisional magistrate, demanding action against the absconding accused.

Police soon began proceedings to forfeit the accused's family property. Within days of the process starting, the boy surrendered. "The court has sent him to judicial custody," said circle officer K S Rawat. "We will now interrogate him in connection with the murder."