Surprise twist: Man believed dead for 11 years found living in Delhi as 'Angoori Bai'

BHOPAL: Believed dead for 11 years, with five men facing a probe for his ‘murder', a man from MP's Harda has been found living as eunuch Angoori Bai in Delhi.
Now aged 39, he was surprised when a team of weary plainclothes cops showed up at his door. He refused to return home, saying he liked the life of the past 11 years, but when told that there was a court-ordered murder investigation on, he agreed to accompany them back to Harda to clear up the picture.
In July 2013, the man was reported missing at Rahatgaon police station. Police looked for him for a couple of years but found no trace. His family then moved court, alleging that five men from the village had murdered him and hidden his body. In 2017, the court ordered police to register a case against the five people and conduct a thorough investigation.
Despite an exhaustive probe, police could not find the body, nor any evidence or motive for the accused to have murdered the youth. They filed a closure report in court in 2019. However, the missing man's family objected to it.
In 2023, the court rejected the closure report and ordered a fresh investigation. Subdivisional police officer Timarni Akanksha Talya was made investigating officer in the case in Oct last year. It took nearly another year of painstaking detective work to crack the mystery.
"Though a murder case was registered against the accused and under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocity Act, they were not arrested since neither the body nor any evidence was found. We started investigations afresh in 2023," Talya told TOI.
"We kept looking for evidence. Much of it was like beating the bush, but it gave us our first clue – a few villagers told us that the missing youth used to behave like a eunuch. We took his pictures and started visiting various locations of eunuchs in Harda and nearby districts," Talya added.
The flimsy clue led police on several wild goose chases. "After several failed attempts, we got another piece of information -- that a eunuch from Harda was living in Delhi for several years. We had a strong suspicion that this could be the missing youth. We had a rough idea of the locality in Delhi and our teams went door to door with pictures for nearly 8 hours on Friday before they finally found him," she said.
"He was living there as ‘Angoori Bai' and reluctant to come to Harda. We explained that there is an investigation and a search for him for 11 years. He agreed but on the condition that he would be allowed to return to Delhi as he wants to live the way he has been living. Our teams brought him to Harda on Saturday. We got him to meet his family members. Now he will be produced in court on Sunday," Talya said.