Addresses found fake,states try to trace identities of Chennai encounter victims

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said officials had found that three of the names and addresses given by the Chennai police did not exist. The names provided were Vinod Kumar,Harish,Vinay Kumar and Chandrika Roy.

Nalanda SP Jitendra Singh Rana said the police had traced Vinay Kumar to Bahapar village. His wife confirmed her husband lived in Chennai and that she had not been able to contact him for some time on the phone. Vinay,who has a 10-year-old son,last came to the village in January.

Officials are yet to confirm Vinay’s death. “We are hearing it from newspapers and the Nalanda police,” said Madhuri Devi. Vinay’s landless family depended on his earnings.

Addresses of the rest of the three — Vinod Kumar from Raipura,Chandrika Rai from Maujipur and Harish from Raghopur — were found to be fake. “We found one Chandrika Rai on a matching address but the man is alive and had never gone to Chennai.”

The address police went looking for in Bengal Friday was on GT Road,Howrah. However,instead of Abhai Kumar,they found Mohd Aslam living there. “I have been living here for 50 years,” said Aslam,adding that he was being hounded by police persons and mediamen.