A 25-year-old woman who failed to appear in her UPSC exams in Jammu on Sunday and went missing, was found dead in Reasi district on Monday evening, police said.
The deceased was identified as Sonam Manhas, daughter of Bhagwan Singh of Talab Tillo in Jammu.
“Her body was recovered around 6 pm on Monday. We have registered a case at Talwara police post and have also initiated inquest proceedings under section 174 Cr PC,” Reasi district’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rashmi Wazir said.
Her family had lodged a missing report at the Parade police post in Jammu on Sunday evening after she did not return home, the district police said.
The police officer said the woman had to appear in her UPSC exam at SRML Higher Secondary School at Parade Ground in Jammu city.
“The family claimed that she had left home to appear in the UPSC exams but then she didn’t turn up there at the SRML School. We also came to know that the woman had some relatives in the Sila area of Reasi.”
“Her last location was traced to Siyad Baba in Talwara — a religious place before her cell phone was switched off and this morning (Monday) our police teams launched searches in the area. They found her body in the Siyad Baba area. It appears that she had jumped off from a hill on the rocks and not in the stream,” said the SSP.
“We found her body with a dupatta tied over her eyes. Prima facie it appears to be a likely case of suicide but we have to wait for the post mortem report and investigations,” she added
The post mortem will be performed by a team of doctors in Reasi district hospital on Tuesday.
The officer said that her family claimed that the deceased had been depressed for the past two months because she was not able to clear Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) exams.
“We don’t know how she reached Reasi from Jammu,” she added.
Reasi is about 70 km north of Jammu.