The Unmasking of a Political Murder: The Mystery around the Death of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Abstract

Deen Dayal Upadhyayawas appointed as the president of the Bhartiya Jana Sangha in December 1967. But unfortunately, he died during a train journey, just 43 days after being appointed as the President of the party. He was found dead while commuting to Patna between the l0th and 11th of February 1968. The death occurred in mysterious circumstances, and therefore some members of Parliament demanded that the investigation be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The government's Central Bureau of Investigation (C.B.I.) team investigated the situation and concluded that the unfortunate incident was the result of a theft committed by two men who were apprehended and tried in court for allegedly pushing Upadhyaya off the train after he saw them stealing his luggage and threatened to denounce them to the police. However, due to a lack of evidence, they were both cleared of the murder accusation. Soon after, the government created a one-person Justice YV Chandrachud Panel to investigate the case; the commission mostly concurred with the C.B.I.'s findings. Initially, his death was seen as an unfortunate incident caused by two thieves, but many people never bought this theory. The cause of death was identified as murder during theft. Despite the fact that the case was handled by various investigation committees, the enigma of his death is still intact.