South Dinajpur, 16 July (H.S.): A Class XII student's decomposed body was recovered from a pond near a railway track in West Bengal's South Dinajpur district on Thursday, two days after he went missing. The incident has sparked suspicion after his friend claimed the teenager had drowned while they were bathing but admitted he kept the matter secret out of fear.

The deceased has been identified as Arman Rahman, a resident of the Barail Mosque area under Buniadpur Municipality. According to the police and family members, Arman returned home from school on Tuesday afternoon when a friend allegedly called him out on the pretext of working on a project. He never returned home.

His family searched extensively and even questioned the friend, who initially claimed that Arman had left his house and that he knew nothing about his whereabouts.

On Thursday morning, Arman's decomposed body was found floating in a pond near the railway tracks at Thingur in Buniadpur. Following the recovery, the friend reportedly told the police that both of them had entered the pond to bathe and that Arman drowned. He claimed he did not inform anyone because he was frightened.

The police from Banshihari Police Station and the Railway Police recovered the body and sent it to Balurghat District Hospital for post-mortem examination.

The victim's family has questioned why the friend neither tried to seek help nor informed anyone after the alleged drowning. They have demanded a thorough investigation to determine whether it was merely an accident or if there was any foul play involved.

No formal written complaint has been lodged so far. The police are investigating the case from all possible angles.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey