Daltonganj: An alleged suicide in Palamu’s Daltonganj area has been exposed as a “frank case of murder,” police said, after an 18-year-old boy was allegedly beaten to death and his body later hanged from a tree to mislead investigators.Deputy superintendent of police Rajesh Yadav said the killing of Pawan Singh was carefully staged as suicide. The incident occurred on the night of May 15 at Dulsulma village under Satbarwa police station limits. Pawan’s body was found the next day at Harhee hillock.“By the time the police reached Harhee hillock, the body was on the ground and people there told police of bringing down the body from a branch of Siddha tree there,” Yadav said.“The body bore no sign of hanging at all. There was no ligature mark on neck,” he added,With no evidence supporting suicide, police suspected foul play. Investigators found that Pawan had been struck on the back of his head with a bamboo stick and died on the spot.According to police, Ravi Singh, 50, then carried the body on his shoulders and hanged it some distance away from the house to pass off the killing as death by hanging.“Ravi beat Pawan with bamboo stick as he had seen him in a compromising position with his married daughter who is a mother of a child,” Yadav said.“Pawan was done to death and then attempts were made to pass it as death by suicide,” he reiterated.Ravi Singh has been booked for murder and sent to judicial custody. Police recovered the bamboo stick, but the rope remains missing.
