Cigarette lighter helps French police identify murdered Indian man
Lille: French police said Monday they had identified the body of an Indian national found in a sack by the side of a road in northern France, thanks to a cigarette lighter found in the dead man's pocket.
Police said the clue had proved distinctive enough to help lead to the detention in Belgium of another Indian national suspected of murder.
Last October a machine operator was clearing out a pit at Bourbourg when he found a sack containing a decomposed body, without any documents or cellphone to help determine the sex, nationality or circumstances of the death.
The DNA and fingerprints also failed to reveal the identity, according to a statement from investigators in Lille who led the inquiry.
But it was a cigarette lighter stamped "Kroeg Cafe" that was found in the pocket of the victim's trousers that finally led to a breakthrough, when Belgian federal police saw a picture of the evidence.
Police had been searching for 42-year-old Darshan Singh, an Indian national resident in Belgium, since last June.
The cafe on the lighter, though a common name in Belgium and the Netherlands meaning "the pub," was located near the victim's home in Ravels close to the Dutch border.
Investigators confirmed the victim's DNA from a toothbrush.
The discovery of the missing man's remains relaunched an inquiry by Belgian authorities, who in late March questioned another man of Indian nationality suspected of having killed Singh.
A source close to the case declined to give further details on the motive for the suspected murder. French authorities will hand over the file to Belgium.
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West Bengal board declares class 10 exam results, 86.83 pc students pass
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal board's class 10 results were declared on Friday, with 86.83 per cent of the total 9.71 lakh candidates passing the examination, an official said.
In last year's Madhyamik Pariksha, 86.56 per cent of the 9.84 lakh students were declared successful, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education president Ramanuj Ganguly said.
This year's examination was held from February 2 to February 12 at over 2,600 centres across the state, he said.
Abhirup Bhadra of Sarada Vidyamandir in Uttar Dinajpur district bagged the first rank, securing 698 of 700 marks. Priyotosh Mukhopadhyay of Sarojinidevi Saraswati Sishu Mandir in Birbhum was declared second with 696 marks. The third rank was shared by three students.
A total of 131 students secured the top 10 ranks, of whom 28 were girls.
Kalimpong recorded the highest percentage at 95.01, followed by Purba Medinipur at 94.02 and Kolkata at 92.31.
