British national Stephen Bennett, found dead last December in a Maharashtra village miles from his planned route of travel, is not the only foreign tourist to have died in the country under mysterious circumstances.
Two more cases, though shown “closed” in police files, throw up more questions than answers. Both were men, travelling alone in the country and both were found dead in adjoining rooms of Amar Guesthouse in Delhi’s Paharganj.
One of them was Parmanand Mishra, a resident of Sydney, Australia who was found dead in room 107 of the guest house in February, 2005. While the police maintained he had expired suddenly, his wife Anthia still harbours niggling doubts about the manner in which he died. Another tourist Jean Ziegler of Luxembourg was found dead in room 109 in 2004.
Mishra arrived in Delhi from Sydney on February 25, 2005. He was to go to Lucknow to visit his brothers. The following day, after an overnight stay at a guesthouse, he booked himself in Amar Guesthouse opposite Krishna Market in Paharganj. On February 27, emails sent to his wife show that he had encashed travellers’ cheques.
Mishra went off air on February 28, which was uncharacteristic of him, Anthia said adding that he had planned to leave for Lucknow soon. Hotel staff told the police that Mishra had not responded to the 8 am wake-up call. Officers broke into the room and found him “unconscious”.
The police told the Australian High Commission at 12 pm that he had expired. However, the post-mortem report shows that he was taken to Lady Hardinge at 4:30 pm at which point he was still “unconscious”. By March 9, when his family arrived in Delhi, his body had been cremated by his brothers. No one, not even the High Commission, was aware of the exact cause of death.
Anthia said, “The police refused to specify the cause of death — natural, suicide or murder.”Mishra’s family got the signed toxicology report more than five months after the death. At the guesthouse, they discovered another curious thing — room 107 was linked by a room with a connecting door to room 109, where Jean Ziegler was found dead the year before. Both were found unconscious in their rooms. Both men were also the only guests at the hotel at the time of their deaths.
Anthia said, “I found it strange that Parmanand had booked himself into Amar Hotel at 10 pm the night before. There was only his signature on the register. My brothers-in-law said his face was black but his body bore no marks. This means he was made unconscious first.”
The toxicology report mentioned that 1 ml blood was taken from the body, but it goes on to add that 69 ml of alcohol was found in the 100 ml tested, which, his family points out, is also not sufficient to kill a healthy male.
Mishra’s family has now received a closure report filed by the sub divisional magistrate of Paharganj. “The closure report sent to the family of the victim indicates it was death due to natural causes. We have not found any evidence of foul play in the case, and therefore, no FIR was filed,” said Central District DCP Alok Kumar. The police has also ruled out foul play in Ziegler’s case.
Amar Guesthouse owner Jitendra Singh told Newsline: “It is an unfortunate coincidence that both deaths occurred in this hotel. We are innocent. The police have given the staff a clean chit.”
A few months ago, Anthia had visited Delhi to check if investigations had stumbled on fresh clues. Anthia thinks it is murder. She will return to Delhi shortly.