Civil-Judge Aspirant Archana Tiwari Missing From Narmada Express; Bag With Rakhi Found

A 29-year-old woman travelling home for Raksha Bandhan has gone missing from the Indore–Bilaspur Narmada Express, prompting a multi-state search by police and railway authorities.

Archana Tiwari, a lawyer at the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench and an aspirant for the state civil judge examination, boarded the B3 coach of the train in Indore on 7 August, railway police said. She was due to reach her family in Katni the next morning.

According to her relatives, Archana last spoke on the phone around 10:15 pm, telling her aunt that the train was near Bhopal. That call has been confirmed by police as her final communication before her mobile phone was switched off. Katni Railway Police Sub-Inspector Anil Maravi told India Today that she did not get off the train at Katni station, where her family was waiting.

When the train moved on, relatives alerted contacts in Umaria, the next halt. There, family members boarded her coach and found her bag left behind on her berth. Inside were a rakhi, a handkerchief and gifts she had packed for Raksha Bandhan. There was no trace of her.

Investigators have since pieced together parts of her journey. CCTV footage shows her at Rani Kamlapati station in Bhopal. Government Railway Police (GRP) Superintendent Rahul Kumar Lodha told The Indian Express that witnesses also placed her on the train at Itarsi. Her phone’s last signal was traced to the Narmada railway bridge area in Narmadapuram district, after which it went silent.

“She went missing on the day hundreds of people came to attend a local religious programme. We have multiple witnesses who have seen her. We think she must have left on her own in such a situation. Common sense says she must not have been kidnapped from such a crowded place,” Lodha said.

Search operations have expanded from Bhopal to Katni. Police teams are analysing CCTV footage across stations, checking passenger and staff statements, and following mobile location data. The Home Guard and State Disaster Response Force have been deployed to comb stretches of the Narmada river near the last phone trace. An all-India missing alert has been circulated to police stations and railway units.

Nearly two weeks since her disappearance, the Tiwari family has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry. “She was working hard to become a judge. We were expecting to see her on Rakshabandhan. Then she just vanished,” her brother Abhishek told The Indian Express.

Local organisations have joined the effort. Katni Youth Congress president Divyanshu has announced a cash reward of ₹51,000 for any information about her whereabouts. Railway stations, bus depots and travel agencies in the region have been asked to remain on alert.

As of now, investigators say they have not ruled out any possibility. They are continuing to examine CCTV footage, call records and witness statements to establish what happened during the 12-hour train journey that was meant to take Archana home.