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Durga Shanker Mishra arranged a meeting for Rahul Singh in Delhi (Img: Dynamite News)
New Delhi: For the past five days, the death of young drone innovator Rahul Singh has dominated headlines in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul's body was discovered under suspicious circumstances at a prominent hotel in Lucknow on July 14.
Rahul was a native of Asman Chhapra village, under the Kothibhar police station limits in the Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradesh. As a drone innovator, he had developed numerous projects and worked extensively in the fields of drone technology, research, and innovation over the past 11 years, earning awards at various levels for his contributions.
About a month before his death on June 12 the deceased, Rahul Singh, had lodged a three-page written complaint (Reference No. 50018526000292) with the ADG (Zone) of Gorakhpur. Acting on this, the Additional Director General of Police issued a written order to the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Basti, directing him to take action and submit a report on the entire matter.
According to Rahul's complaint, former UP Chief Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra had arranged a meeting for him with an individual named Chandrabhushan Mishra on August 30 last year. The meeting took place at Mishra's residence in New Friends Colony in Delhi. The objective of the meeting was to collaborate on advancing drone technology and indigenous innovation under the 'Viksit Bharat' initiative.
During the meeting, Chandrabhushan Mishra also proposed involving his three children in the drone project. Subsequently, it was agreed that Rahul would be paid ₹85 lakh to jointly advance the drone project.
Following this, Chandrabhushan frequently visited Rahul's home, and their relationship grew closer. Chandrabhushan gave Rahul a mobile phone and transferred ₹62 lakh to his account on September 17 of last year. According to Rahul's complaint, Chandrabhushan repeatedly insisted during this period that his children should receive primary benefits and a significant role in the project.
Then came December 27. Rahul was summoned to Chandrabhushan Mishra's office in Noida's Sector-5 for a project presentation. Former UP Chief Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra and Chandrabhushan's three children were also present there. When Rahul stated that he would present the project details via a pen drive, they used abusive language and coerced him into sharing the presentation and related materials via WhatsApp instead.
Subsequently, when Rahul asked for the remaining ₹23 lakh, Chandrabhushan refused to pay and instead demanded the return of the ₹62 lakh previously transferred.
On February 24 of this year, Chandrabhushan visited Rahul's home with some associates and behaved abusively towards his parents. He demanded the return of his money, threatening that Rahul would otherwise be implicated in a false case. From that point on, a pattern of threats directed at the entire family via phone and WhatsApp calls began.
In a letter written to the ADG before his death, Rahul highlighted a crucial detail: he received a missed call from former UP Chief Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra at 1:28 PM on April 8. He called Durga Shanker back at 1:29 PM, and the two spoke for 6 minutes and 17 seconds. During the conversation, Durga Shanker told him to return the money to Chandrabhushan, warning that failure to do so would create problems for his elder brother's wedding and lead to legal complications. Immediately afterwards, Chandrabhushan called via WhatsApp, threatening to have him framed in a false case and sent to jail.
Rahul wrote that he and his family were living in extreme fear and under immense mental pressure due to this harassment. He also forwarded details regarding witnesses to the meetings, along with other necessary evidence, documents, and electronic records, to the ADG. Surprisingly, the Basti police took no effective action on the detailed complaint filed by Rahul on June 12. Instead, the very next day on June 13 at 5:49 PM the Basti police registered a case against Rahul at the Nagar police station (FIR No. 164/2026) under Sections 351(2) and 316(2) of the BNS, based on a complaint filed by Chandrabhushan. This FIR marked the beginning of a campaign of harassment against Rahul and his family.
Ultimately, the very outcome Rahul had feared and warned the police about came to pass; the body of Rahul was discovered in Lucknow on July 14.
Distraught, the family began pleading for justice at various levels. It was only three days later on July 17 at 7:20 PM that the Lucknow police registered a named FIR (No. 243/2026) under Section 108 of the BNS at the Vibhuti Khand police station, based on a complaint by the deceased's brother, Rohit Singh, against Chandrabhushan and his three children: Tapish, Udit, and Tarini.
Regarding the entire matter, Chandrabhushan Mishra maintains that all allegations levelled against him are baseless. He states that he met Rahul during an exhibition in Delhi and, due to a need, lent him money; however, Rahul later began reneging on repaying the amount.
Dynamite News made several attempts to seek the version of former UP Chief Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra who has come under scrutiny in this case but he consistently tried to evade the issue. Dynamite News called his mobile number multiple times; when he did not answer, messages were sent via WhatsApp.
Subsequently, a team of investigative reporters from Dynamite News visited Durga Shanker's residence in New Friends Colony, Delhi to seek his version in the matter, but once again, there was no response from him. Dynamite News will publish his side of the story as soon as it is received.
Durga Shanker Mishra is a retired 1984-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre. Prior to serving as the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh for two and a half years, he held the position of Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, for four and a half years. Before that, he served as an Additional Secretary in the same ministry for three years. Born on December 4, 1961, Durga Shankar hails from the Mau district of Uttar Pradesh. He has also served as the District Magistrate of Sonbhadra and Agra.
