What was supposed to be a peaceful journey home after the Kedarnath pilgrimage turned into a baffling six-day disappearance of a newly married woman traveling on the Dehradun-Ghaziabad Nanda Devi Express.
Pragya Singh, married just three months ago, mysteriously disappeared around midnight while returning with her husband Manish. This led to a frantic police search that eventually led investigators to Bihar.
Fearing the worst, her husband informed the railway police, and the search stretched across stations and compartments before leading investigators hundreds of kilometers to Begusarai in Bihar.
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How was Pragya tracked down?
Pragya was finally found safe after six days. She has now revealed how she ended up there.
According to Laksar district SP Shekhar Chandra Soyal, the couple had an argument during the trip. Pragya was upset after the argument, and waited until her husband fell asleep before quietly getting off the train and boarding another train.
Police said she traveled without a ticket and did not even know that the train she took was heading to Begusarai.
After arriving in Bihar, Pragya called her mother and informed her that she was fine, and asked her family not to worry.
Police later tracked her location and informed her relatives before returning her.
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What led to Pragya’s disappearance?
The couple was traveling from Dehradun to Ghaziabad after completing the Kedarnath Yatra on the Nanda Devi Express train.
The disappearance was revealed when Manish woke up at Muzaffarnagar station and noticed Pragya disappearing from her seat. At first he assumed she had gone to the bathroom, and waited for her to return before he began searching the train.
When repeated searches in nearby cubicles and bathrooms yielded no trace of her, and her phone was found switched off, Manish informed the railway police. The case was later transferred to Roorkee police station, where a disappearance complaint was registered.
Manish was afraid of an accident or a criminal incident. He also claimed that the CCTV cameras at Muzaffarnagar and Roorkee railway stations were not working.
During the investigation, the police examined Pragya’s call detail records, which eventually helped trace her to Begusarai. Authorities said she has now returned to her family.
