Ranchi boy dies in US; kin told a month later, suspect murder

RANCHI: A Ranchi boy studying in Nebraska in the United States was found dead on a railway track in Chicago on April 4. His family in Ranchi says they learnt of his death more than a month later and suspected that he was murdered.

Pratyush Kumar was studying in the University of Nebraska. His parents say they came to know about the death through a website.

The family was in grief after the Ranchi passport office confirmed the death on Saturday evening. However, the American authorities have called the death an accident.

"It seems he was murdered. The bag which he used to keep with him is missing," said Pratyush's father B K Karn, retired principal of the well-known Netarhat school.

The family members are unhappy with the Indian embassy and claim it did not bother to take up the issue with the authorities in the United States.

The family members are also upset that they came to know of the death through a website. Karn's eldest son, who works in London, will go to the US to bring the body.