Report – Alok semwal
Dehradun’s Basant Vihar neighbourhood is reeling from a murder that has left everyone asking one question — how do you see a killer in someone you have shared meals and laughter with?
Digambar Dhiman stepped out of his house on the evening of February 9th, told his family he was meeting some friends, and disappeared. No call. No message. Nothing. His family waited through the night, then through the next day, clinging to the hope that he would walk through the door with some explanation. He never did. On February 11th, with two days gone and no trace of him anywhere, they finally went to the police.
What investigators uncovered in the days that followed was worse than anything his family had probably imagined.
The People He Trusted Were the People Who Killed Him
Digambar, who was facing charges under the POCSO Act, had a court hearing on February 9th that did not go through. He came home, stayed a while, and then left — presumably without a worry in the world about where he was headed or who he was meeting.
That decision cost him his life.
Early findings suggest his friends lured him out and beat him to death with a baseball bat. Police have reportedly pulled together key evidence from the scene and have a clear picture of who the suspects are. The identities have been established — what remains now is making the arrests and recovering the body, both of which are being pursued simultaneously.
A Neighbourhood That Cannot Make Sense of It
In Basant Vihar, people are not just frightened — they are confused. This is not the kind of crime that fits neatly into any category. There was no robbery. No random act of violence. Someone planned this, called up a friend, and went through with it.
Was it the POCSO case that triggered something? An old score that had been sitting and festering? A fight that got out of hand and went too far? Nobody has those answers yet — not the family, not the neighbours, and possibly not even the police in full.
What everyone does know is that a young man left home one evening trusting the people around him completely. That trust, it appears, was the last mistake he ever made.
