Agartala, 16th September 2026 : Fifteen years after the disappearance of Tripura teacher and timber trader Ashish Som, the investigation has taken a fresh turn with the exhumation of skeletal remains from three graves in Sribhumi district of Assam on Wednesday.
The remains of three unidentified persons, buried at the Sribhumi town headquarters graveyard, were exhumed following a court order to determine whether any of them could be linked to Som, who was allegedly abducted from the Kumarghat area of Tripura in 2011.
The exhumation was carried out in the presence of officials from Sribhumi Sadar Police Station, Health Department personnel and a magistrate from the local administration. The skeletal remains were collected and preserved for DNA analysis. A team from Tripura was also present during the process.
Som, a resident of Agartala, was allegedly abducted in 2011, after which his kidnappers reportedly demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh from his family. His wife, Shelly Som, is said to have handed over Rs 28 lakh to unidentified persons in the Baraigram area of Sribhumi. Despite the payment, Som was not released.
The family subsequently approached the authorities. Tripura Police arrested several suspects and launched an investigation, but Som remained untraced.
In 2014, an unidentified male body was recovered from the Shonbil area of Sribhumi and later buried at the Karimganj Sadar graveyard after efforts to establish the identity proved unsuccessful. Following a court directive, the grave was subsequently exhumed and the remains were subjected to DNA testing. However, the DNA profile did not match that of Ashish Som.
The case then became embroiled in a prolonged legal process. Acting on a subsequent order from a Tripura court, authorities decided to exhume the remains of three more unidentified persons buried at the same graveyard. Their remains were recovered on Wednesday and will now undergo DNA testing.
The results could provide a significant clue in the 15-year-old disappearance case. Som’s family has continued to live with uncertainty over whether he is alive or dead.
According to reports, Shelly Som has continued to wear sindoor, holding on to the hope that her husband may still be alive. Their daughter, Banashree Som, now 29, is also reportedly awaiting definitive information about her father.
The family and investigating authorities are now awaiting the DNA reports, which may shed fresh light on the long-standing mystery surrounding Ashish Som’s disappearance
