Body Found on Tracks: Allahabad HC Converts Habeas Plea in SI Anuj Kumar Disappearance Into Criminal Writ

The Allahabad High Court has ordered that a habeas corpus petition concerning missing Sub-Inspector Anuj Kumar be converted into a criminal miscellaneous writ petition after new details emerged about his disappearance and the recovery of a suspected mutilated body from nearby railway tracks.

The 36-year-old missing officer, who was posted at Aligarh and belonged to the 2012 police batch, has been unaccounted for since the night of September 17, 2025, when he was allegedly taken away by fellow police officers following a domestic altercation with his wife.

The matter first drew public attention when his mother, 66-year-old Sushila Devi, filed a habeas corpus petition before the Allahabad High Court after local authorities failed to provide clarity on her son’s whereabouts.

According to the petition and family accounts, Anuj was suspended from service on the very day he went missing by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Aligarh, and was reportedly last seen being escorted out of his rented house in Prabhat Colony in Aligarh by an Inspector and a Constable. His landlord corroborated the last sighting.

The family has maintained that police personnel took him away that night, while local authorities have denied any detention, stating they only arrived at the scene to “pacify” the couple following their dispute.

Despite the passage of nearly three months, local police failed to either produce the officer or register a formal missing person complaint until October 18, after the habeas corpus petition was filed, leaving the family and public in mounting distress.

During proceedings on December 10, 2025, the State submitted a compliance affidavit from the Senior Superintendent of Police, Aligarh, asserting that a mutilated body found on the railway tracks near Daudkha station shortly after a Humsafar Express passed at around 10 p.m. on September 17 may be that of the missing officer. DNA and viscera samples have reportedly been preserved for forensic analysis, with investigators awaiting confirmation after matching them with samples from the family.

The High Court bench of Justice J.J. Munir and Justice Sanjiv Kumar described the police account of the body’s discovery as “elusive” and expressed concern over the fact that all CCTV cameras that could have captured relevant events around the disappearance were declared non-functional, a development the court noted could raise suspicions about suppression of evidence.

The bench observed that the case now appears to involve matters far beyond a simple illegal detention claim, stating that it now “apparently has met with a gory fate,” with the issues involved falling outside the limited scope of a habeas corpus petition.

Consequently, court directed the petition to be converted into a criminal miscellaneous writ petition, allowing for broader judicial scrutiny of the investigation and evidence handling.

The matter has been slated for further hearing before the appropriate bench on 16 December 2025.

Case Title: Anuj Kumar And Another vs State of UP and 5 Others

Order Date: December 10, 2025

Bench: Justice J.J. Munir and Justice Sanjiv Kumar