Status: Untraced - E7: Together to Tunda Bhuj

It started with a backpack at the 1996 centennial Olympic Games, a backpack that contained a bomb. While the authorities focused on the wrong suspect, a serial bomber planned his next attacks two abortion clinics and a lesbian bar.

I saw as soon as I turned the corner, basically someone bleeding out.

The victims of these brutal attacks were left to pick up the pieces. Forced to explore the gray areas between right and wrong, life and death, their once ordinary lives and mine changed forever.

It kind of gave me a feeling of pending doom.

And all the while, our country found itself facing down a long and ugly reckoning with a growing threat far-right, homegrown religious terrorism. Listen to Flashpoint starting July 25th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Enjoy this episode of Status Untraced. Here is episode 7..

You're listening to Status Untraced, a production of Tenderfoot TV, in association with Odyssey. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individuals participating in the podcast. This podcast also contains subject matter which may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.

So the two other people that you're referring to right now that were with them, do you know their names?

No, no, nobody knows.

Mid-October 2016, mountaineers Manu and Jagdish were charged with the task of searching for Justin Alexander in order to bring the porter, Anil Kumar, with their team. During the search, Anil Kumar opened up, allegedly revealing a detail that no one's mentioned before that. At the last resting spot, he was with Justin the Baba and a couple. Anil, who began his descent down the mountain. First couldn't confirm who followed, but claimed that this couple eventually caught up with him.

After maybe an hour or so, this couple crossed Anil Kumar because he was carrying a luggage with him. Quite a heavy one. The first were the couples to arrive at Tundabhuj, and the day Justin was lost, this couple, they didn't stay in Tundabhuj, they came straight to Khirganga.

And they never came forward to talk to the police themselves.

They didn't do anything like when they watched us walking around in Khirganga camp, next day, they went from there.

So you saw them there, but you didn't realize that they were a couple.

Yes, yes, our team saw them.

Manu is saying his team saw these two individuals at Khirganga. I try to gather every detail possible to attempt to identify who this couple might be. When Jagdish, his English a bit choppy, mentions them in relation to the last photo.

That guy in the photo?

Yes, his photo with him at Thakarkumar.

That photo with him there.

Yeah, maybe it's possible that they don't want to get into this matter.

I turn to Alex, showing him the photo of the individual they say hiked alongside Justin.

The guy in the photo, the last photo where Justin's like, wrapped up with Nirmal.

It's Nirmal Patel, the man in the last photo with Justin. The thing is, I spoke with Nirmal nearly a week ago and he gave a different story.

Just hiding it is never enough. Now I find in every mirror a ghost.

Only once I saw the killer.

So these guys, these two additional people you're saying, do we know what the guy looked like, or what nationality?

The picture that he just showed you.

Nirmal right there.

This girl and this nirmal, they were together in Trivandrum, they met Justin and then they started going back together.

Only Nirmal and the girl, not Justin, all three together.

All three together.

This tip is a game changer. These are two new faces who were allegedly present in the same area and at the same time as Justin's disappearance. Who are they? Nirmal and a girl? What do they know?

I moved ahead, I had to make food.

The mention of these two people was never questioned by police or brought up again. Like the officers in the room, it slipped by our attention.

Did you guys end up speaking with Nirmal? No, no.

Okay.

Do they know if Nirmal was ever seen in the area, like a week after?

He was never seen. See if the police is not concerned anymore, police is not searching anymore, so even if he comes after a year, no one bothers.

The reason I'm having trouble following this is because I spoke to Nirmal about a week ago and he said one, he wasn't with them. He started later on the trek and he went with other people.

No.

But they went all together, together to Tundaguj.

If Nirmal was hiking with Justin, then that means his story about crossing paths is a lie. I'm finding it hard to believe. Nirmal uploaded the photo with Justin and he interviewed with us. Why would he do that if he had something to hide?

I mean, from that, the whole story, do you feel suspicious at all about the guy and the?

Girl or just the baba?

Yeah, the same thing all three had done, like, Baba has also run away from the complaint, and both guys also didn't do any of the complaint.

Let's back up for a second. Was there anyone else who mentioned a couple or that two people went with Justin to Tundaguj?

Friends which running restaurant in Kheerganga.

I'm told. Kheerganga is best envisioned as a campground nestled high in the Himalayas, a kind of place so remote. The air feels different, but it's not entirely a no-man's land. There are large tents serving as cafes and restaurants. And allegedly, one of the restaurant owners noticed a couple lurking around for a month and claimed their behavior grew suspicious.

They ran short of money and everything, so they got in touch with Justin, so they started using Justin's money or whatever, or they started surviving on Justin. You know, they're having chillums and smoke and everything together.

Okay, and did you guys ever tell Susie that there are these two other people on the trip? Susie and Jonathan, the mother and the friend from New Zealand? Long hair.

No, we told the police.

They believe that there was some, you know, sort of backstab by the police. They should have at least immediately caught the guy and the girl because, as per the statement of the food people, they were together.

You guys saw what the girl looked like, right?

No one saw that.

No one saw the girl at all.

Only the restaurant person.

I'm now feeling a bit lost. One moment Manu was telling me the whole team saw this couple at Kirganga. The next, he's saying it was just the restaurant owner who spotted them. There seems to be some sort of miscommunication, so to unravel it, I asked Manu and Jagdish to confirm the details again.

You remember how, like earlier I said, the more that you find out feels like, the less. I know this is one of those times I'm so confused because I feel like everything that I started to think was going on.

See, these are the guys who actually talked to the porter. He's not telling somebody else's story, he's telling the conversation with the Anil Kumar. So why would he lie? He won't be lying to us for anything.

This is a meaningful point. What reason do Manu and Jagdish have to lie? They don't seem like the type to spin wild tales for kicks, but we can't just take their word for it. We need to know if this tale about a couple, and specifically nirmal patel, can be corroborated.

Do you recognize him? No.

No.

Just for the hell of it, you don't recognize him either, middle.

No, no, no.

Who is he?

He was one of the guys that was also supposed to go on the trek with Nirmal, and it looks like he and Nirmal did do a hike over Montelay that year. For sure.

On Nirmal Patel's Facebook, he uploaded a group photo from a trek to Montelay. So is this the group who crossed paths with Justin? If we can talk to the other hikers, we can figure it out. Lucky for us, some of them in the photo are tagged, so we send out friend requests, hoping they can clear up this mystery.

They believe that maybe the guy who actually saw that couple with Justin. They might be still there, but they're not sure about that because they don't have their number or anything.

And just when we thought they'd given us everything, Manu and Jagdish drop another lead. A connection to someone who's imperative to the case.

The other guy whom we should meet is Palubhai. He was in regular touch with the Baba, and when Baba committed a suicide, he was there because he's seen the baba even hanging.

I'm Dan Taberski. In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York.

I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like, stuttering, super bad. I'm like, stop around. She's like, I can't.

A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms and spreading fast.

Like doubling and tripling, and it's all these girls.

With a diagnosis, the state tried to keep on the down low.

Everybody thought I was holding something back.

Well, you were holding something back intentionally.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, yeah, it's hysteria, it's all in your head, it's not physical. Oh my gosh, you're exaggerating.

Is this the largest mass hysteria since the Witches of Salem, or is it something else entirely? Something's wrong here, something's not right.

Leroy was the new dateline and everyone was trying to solve the murder.

A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, Hysterical Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and add free right now by joining Wondery+.

Getting the move on now. The next morning, our bags packed, we moved deeper into the valley. Overnight, I took the opportunity to revisit my phone call with Nirmal Patel, and something stands out that I previously missed. Before jumping to conclusions, I consult Arshdeep to make sure I'm not misinterpreting what could be Indian slang.

In that conversation, he goes, Uh, well, there was a couple of weird things. One I was like, Yeah, he seems like a pretty humble guy. He was like, Yeah, yeah, very humble guy. He's like, Yeah, we never got into any arguments. We, uh, good friends.

Good friends.

It means they were close, it means they were spending some time together. That's why I'm going to say, okay, now we are spending together.

So I'm going to say, Oh, Liam and I are good friends.

Yeah, but would you say? Oh, yeah, no, Liam and I didn't get in any arguments.

No, I wouldn't say that, why would I say that?

Does he exactly?

Unless you ask me about it.

Yeah, exactly.

If you ask me only, then I'll reply that answer.

We never went into any arguments. Why would Nirmal Patel say that?

Yeah, he was quite humble.

Yeah, but like, we never went through any argument or stuff like that.

We were good friends.

Is he covering his tracks or am I reading too deeply into this conversation?

Rockies It looks like the Rockies.

Yeah.

We climb higher and higher, the mountains towering on one side and a sheer cliff face on the other, plunging 200 yards below to the river's swirling rapids.

Stones and everything inside. If someone gets into the river, he just dies due power.

The road we're on is really only wide enough for a single car, but vehicles whiz by from both directions. The drive alone is liberating, as if we're leaving civilization behind.

We're driving in towards the end of the valley, which is where I've been told Montalai Lake lays. It does feel mystical.

Legend is the Hindu god Shiva meditated in these mountains for 3,000 years. When he opened his eyes, he was spellbound by its untouched beauty and named it after his wife, Parvati.

It feels like a hippie place.

Yeah, yeah, it feels like spring break at Yosemite, yeah.

Kasol is buzzing with energy, packed with a mix of carefree backpackers and spirited locals. There's a dash of everything here. Street vendors touting hot dumplings and chai, tiny shops brimming with handmade wool sweaters and winter jackets, an enticing sense drifting from open-door hookah bars.

You know, here's the thing if Justin's in the area still, he's gonna stand out.

Yeah.

People are gonna recognize him. Do you think we should ask a couple random people and just be like, Hey, have you seen this guy at all in the last while?

I'm caught off guard when a scruffy Caucasian man saunters past us, first one we've seen since landing in Kulu, a hood over his head, slipping through the crowd, he evades interaction.

Yeah, because I assume that he's like a foreigner.

He's like, overstayed his visa or something.

An outsider who's made himself a local. How many more are there?

To me, Hinduism is not an organized religion, I call it a disorganized, decentralized religion.

However, this is not that interview.

There is no common God, there is no common sacred text like a Bible, there is no common ritual, no common origin story, no common congregational song.

I sought out the guidance of Dr. Varun Soni, the Dean of Religious studies at USC, for his knowledge of babas. Their beliefs, their devotions and their place in Indian society. Seated outside on campus, Dr. Soni explained it all links back to India's most practiced religion.

That being said, there is a common belief now that Hindus believe that we have a soul. That soul is reincarnated over many lifetimes, and the goal of Hindu life is for that soul to no longer be reincarnated. To achieve what we call moksha, or liberation from the cycle of rebirth.

And most practicing Hindus renounce the world at the end of their life.

Yes, in traditional Hinduism, there's four stages of life The first stage is celibate student. So, for the first 25 years of your life, Brahmachari, you're just focused on developing the skills you need to be in the world, get your degree, get your education, etc.

Here's the deal with Babas. They decide to skip the steps and jump to Hinduism's final stage. They relinquish ties to everything, including possessions, money and even family, to emulate the revered deity Shiva.

They're not attached to any particular thing, they're focused on transcending their own physical desires. That means they might fast, they might not have sex, they might stand on one leg for a month.

It's this unfettered lifestyle that often entrances curious outsiders, for better or worse, to become involved with Babas.

So I think people feel as though India is like its own planet. But the problem with thinking that is that you can then essentialize it as something other. And that also means that if you're exotifying it, you might not think that the baba is crooked, you might not think that the Sadhu is trying to rip you off, and trust me, there are plenty of babas that are corrupt and Sadhus who are trying to rip you off.

We've heard all sorts of things about Baba Rawat, a con man, drug addict, murderer. but what if he was the real deal?

So in India, the idea of a guru is the idea of a teacher. If you want to get better at meditation or spiritual practice, you have to have a guru. And so the idea that a baba would take interest in someone. Hey, this foreigner's been in a cave for three weeks. They must be a real legitimate spiritual seeker. And hey, I'm going to go to this lake anyway and I can bring him along. That, to me, seems like it could be totally viable.

For Hindus, there's a core principle ahimsa, a mandate of nonviolence towards all living beings, including oneself, meaning murder, suicide that would compromise one's spiritual journey.

No, he hadn't, and the autopsy showed that he had a penis.

Okay, yeah.

And he either told Justin that, or Justin played it up first, you know, Justin wasn't short of insightful commentary. As for the lone officer who discovered Baba Rawat, he was quietly suspended and then just seemingly disappeared.

So India has the highest rates of custodial death in the world. That means that it has the highest rate of people who die while in police custody. Before they're charged with anything.

Many assume Baba Rawat took his own life due to an overwhelming sense of guilt that he did something to harm Justin. But if we find evidence that Baba Rawat was murdered, then this story takes on a whole new dimension, one where Baba Rawat may not be the perpetrator, but a victim himself.

First, I want to ask this, Baba, just baba, you just tell us the truth. So if you see from this spot, he fall down. So for us, it's more easy to find.

Coming back to India, coming back to our investigation in Kisol, on a sunny rooftop patio, we're face to face with the rescuer, Palu.

Something happened with this Baba, because he's not the exact one time talking, it is a hundred percent this story. Sometime he talking, I was walking in the front, he was coming back, sometime he telling to me I miss the back. He was in front of me. I just tell to him, Baba, please just help us.

Among the four rescue companies in the valley, Palu's team is one of the oldest. His solid rapport with local police allowed him continuous access to Baba Rawat in prison.

So he kept on changing who was in front and who was in back.

No, he just one time he do mistake. He told me I was behind Justin, so second time he told me I was in front of Justin.

And Anil never ended up changing, telling a story differently. It was always the same story.

Anil was an accurate one. I asked Anil, if you know something happened, I pay you money. Also, he told me, Brother, I swear to God, I don't know nothing.

So the baba hangs himself. Did you end up seeing his body?

No.

I was told Palu had seen Baba Rawat's hanging body. Turns out that's not the case yet. Palu says. The cops provided him with a detailed account of how the body was supposedly found.

Police told me they told me he hang first, he hang like this. It was not so high, so he do like this entire, then he do like this leg, like this.

And okay.

The explanation is a bit wonky. For a clearer picture, Palu demonstrates on a fence outside. He says the baba's cloth Dhoti was tied at the top of the cell and then motions, kicking his legs up.

Up, leg up and fell back.

Believe me.

Leg is up.

Leg is up.

Essentially, what he's saying is that Baba Rawat had the noose around his neck, his back against the cell bars, and hanged himself upside down. That kills you, weird.

It'd be easier if it was turned this way, but.

Wouldn't you fall one way or another? I would....

See, that's.

It sounds impossible.

Were you suspicious of some of the cops working there for killing him?

No.

I'm sure there is nobody killed Baba, because every time one police guy need to stand there near the door, in forest, in any house. I think somebody can kill in police station, I'm sure nobody can kill he do suicide.

To repeat Palu's words, he believes nobody could have killed Baba Rawat because he was inside the police station.

Is it possible for us to go with you tomorrow to see that jail cell that the baba was in?

Baba's.

Yeah.

Yeah, okay, I can explain to where is the police sitting? And how was before there? Perfect.

Yeah, let's do it. That sounds like a plan.

In the early A.

Hello.

Just ten minutes east of Kasol, Palu pulls off the main asphalt road onto a gravel drive.

Testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing.

Before us is a coral-painted brick building cracked and fading.

Yes, yes, yes.

Yeah.