GHAZIABAD: On Wednesday, Girdhar Bisht’s family gathered to perform his terhvi: the Hindu ritual held on the 13th day after death. By Thursday morning, the man they had mourned, cremated and believed to have been murdered by seven persons was back at his doorstep.His sudden return has unravelled a month-long mystery, stunned neighbours and thrown police into a fresh race to find out that if Girdhar Bisht (40) is alive, whose body did his family cremate?Bisht, a resident of Sector 5 in Vaishali, reached home on Thursday morning in an autorickshaw, nearly five weeks after he went missing and 13 days after a body pulled out of Masuri canal was identified by his family as his.“He came home, paid the auto driver, and then froze when he saw his garlanded portrait,” a neighbour said. Within minutes, word spread across the colony. Neighbours rushed out, some stunned, some convinced they were seeing a ghost.The story began on May 16.Police said Bisht got into a violent altercation with three brothers, Sunil, Shailesh and Dharmendra, who run an automobile repair shop near his society.During the fight, he allegedly hit Shailesh with a hammer, leaving him bleeding profusely. He was arrested the next day under preventive sections for breach of peace and sent to Dasna jail.Bisht’s family said he had a history of mental illness and erratic behaviour. His mother, Devki Devi, visited him twice in jail. On May 21, during her second visit, she was told he had been released on a personal bond.But Bisht never reached home. The family claimed they were not informed of his release and filed a missing person complaint.Then, on June 12, police recovered an unidentified body from Nahal Jhal stretch of Masuri canal. Bisht’s relatives were informed and they identified the body as his.Suspecting murder, they accused seven men of assaulting him and got a case registered under charges of murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.The body underwent two autopsies after the family alleged Bisht had been beaten to death. But doctors found no external injuries. The medical report pointed to drowning. The viscera samples were, however. preserved.Still, the family went ahead with the cremation. This Wednesday, they held the terhvi. By next morning, Bisht was back.Police reached the house and questioned him. During initial questioning, he claimed that after leaving jail, he travelled to a Dera Sacha Sauda centre in Punjab, where he spent weeks meditating before returning But officers claimed his account had inconsistencies. “At times, he claimed he worked for an intelligence agency and tried to assert influence,” a police officer said.The sudden return has also cast fresh light on Bisht’s troubled past.Ravindra Tyagi, one of the seven named in the murder FIR, said Bisht often attacked people without provocation and had several disputes in the neighbourhood.“He once came to my house and assaulted my mother and sisters. Since we stopped him then, he still holds a grudge against us,” Tyagi said.Naina, who runs an egg cart outside the building where Bisht lives, said he threw hot water at her on May 13 “for no reason”. “He often carried knives and hammers with him and circled the garage owned by the three brothers,” she added.Now, police have filed a final report in the murder case and started a fresh investigation, this time to identify the dead man whose funeral was performed in Bisht’s name.
