GUWAHATI
The body of a Hungarian tourist, missing since March 29 after checking into a hotel in Shillong, was found on a steep slope in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district on April 10.
The district’s Superintendent of Police, Vivek Syiem, said a forensic team reached the spot to conduct an on-spot autopsy on the decomposed body of Puskas Zsolt near Ramdait, a village in the Shella area of the Sohra subdivision bordering Bangladesh.
The village is a popular destination for trekkers who cover several trails through an expansive forest in the Shella-Sohra region nearby.
“We do not suspect foul play, as the village is very peaceful and the locals are used to tourists regularly hitting several trekking trails. The Hungarian tourist, suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, went off the normal trek routes,” Mr Syiem said on Friday (April 11, 2025).
“Nobody, not even the villagers, takes that path. He may have slipped and fallen and died of hunger, but the post-mortem report will confirm everything,” he said.
“We are in touch with the Hungarian Embassy. We will hand over the body to the family members after the magistrate’s inquest is done and an unnatural death case is registered. Otherwise, we will send it for the last rites in Meghalaya,” Mr Syiem said.
Drones help search operation team to locate the body
The district police said Mr Zsolt was last seen by some children at Mawkawir and Ramdait village on March 29, the day he checked into a hotel in Shillong’s Laitumkhrah area. He was walking alone toward the trekking trails, carrying a backpack.
“He checked into the hotel at 3.45 a.m., checked out around 9 a.m., and hired a taxi that dropped him near Sohra around noon. We came to know after the Hungarian Embassy filed a missing complaint on April 2,” an officer at the Laitumkhrah police station said.
The police subsequently launched a search operation through several teams comprising personnel of the Sohra and adjoining police stations, the State Disaster Response Force, and local volunteers. Personnel from the Drone Control Centre were also engaged.
“Drones helped narrow down the search. One of the six teams searching the trekking area for the past three days spotted the body,” Mr Syiem said.
