Bhopal: A 29-year-old lawyer from Madhya Pradesh, who vanished during a train journey to her hometown two weeks ago, has been found alive, though questions remain over the circumstances of her disappearance.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) on Tuesday confirmed that Archana Tiwari, who went missing on the eve of Rakshabandhan, has been located at an undisclosed place.
“Our team is headed to her location and will make contact with her. We will question her and then only reveal why she disappeared,” GRP Superintendent Rahul Kumar Lodha told The Indian Express.
Reports had surfaced that Archana’s train ticket was booked by a Gwalior-based policeman known to her for the past two years. Responding to this, Lodha said, “We are investigating the claims.”
Family members also confirmed that Archana had reached out to them but declined to share further details.
Archana, a practicing lawyer at the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and an aspirant for civil judge examinations, was living in a hostel in Indore. On August 5, she left for Katni, carrying gifts for Rakshabandhan, and boarded the Narmada Express.
That night, at 10.16 pm, she spoke to her aunt, saying she was near Bhopal. It was her last known conversation. The next morning, when the train reached Katni South station, her waiting family found she had not disembarked.
Her last digital trace was a mobile tower signal near the Narmada Railway Bridge in Narmadapuram district, which later became the center of search operations.
Over the following days, police conducted a multi-state search, combing areas between Rani Kamalapati station, Itarsi, and Katni, while also examining CCTV footage from railway stations and nearby locations.