Jan Suraaj Party's social media head found dead near railway tracks in Ranchi

A functionary of the Prashant Kishor-led Jan Suraaj Party, who went missing while travelling by train to Patna, was found dead near railway tracks in Ranchi on Tuesday, police said.Devpalik Gupta, 31, the party's digital media manager and social media team lead, went missing from the Ranchi-Patna Janshatabdi Express on Monday afternoon. He was travelling with colleagues when he disappeared shortly after the train left Ranchi railway station.Gupta's body was recovered from bushes near the railway tracks in the Angara police station area, close to Barwadag village on the Ranchi-Muri line, police said.Speaking to India Today TV, Rural Superintendent of Police Gaurav Goswami said preliminary findings indicated that Gupta had sustained a head injury. He said it appeared that Gupta might have fallen from the moving train. The investigation is underway, and the body will be sent for a post-mortem examination. The cause of death will be established after the examination, police said.According to Gupta's colleague Gautam Kumar, they had boarded the train at Ranchi railway station on Monday around 2.30. About 10 minutes later, Gupta, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi, told his companions that he was going to the pantry car to get something to eat but did not return, Kumar said."We then left our berth and went to the pantry car next to our coach, but we did not find him. We checked every coach, but he was nowhere on the train," he said.When the train stopped at Muri Junction, Gupta's companions lodged a complaint with the Government Railway Police, which then began a search. An FIR was registered around 9 pm on Monday, according to details shared by the party.Gupta, who hailed from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, had been associated with Jan Suraaj's social media campaigns for the past four years.The party expressed concern over the circumstances surrounding his death and demanded an impartial investigation. It said the cause of death was not yet known and that there was no confirmation of any conspiracy.Jan Suraaj also appealed to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren to direct a senior officer to oversee the investigation.Police are investigating the circumstances in which Gupta went missing from the train. The post-mortem examination is awaited to establish the cause of death.- Ends