Decomposed body of missing Kerala man found after 15 months

Wayanad, June 28 (IANS) The decomposed body of a Kerala man, who went missing around 15 months ago, was recovered on Saturday from a forest area of Tamil Nadu bordering the Wayanad district after a combined search conducted by the Kerala and Tamil Nadu Police.

53-year-old Hemachandran went missing reportedly in March last year. On April 1, his wife registered a missing complaint with the Medical College Kozhikode police station.

It has surfaced that Hemachandran left his home on March 20 following a call that he received from a woman.

Since then, the local police have been probing the case, and they obtained vital leads that there were some financial dealings in which Hemachandran was involved. Based on the call records, the police took two people into custody.

According to reports, when the joint police team reached the forest area, the two who were in custody were also present.

The accused duo is understood to have done the job of burying Hemachandran, while a person named Naushad is another key suspect in the crime.

Naushad, according to the police, is presently abroad, and they will, after more probes will take steps to issue a look-out notice and take up steps to extradite him from where he is now living.

The person who helped the police team to dig the area from where the body was recovered said that since the area is all the time cold, not much decomposition has taken place.

“As we were digging, we first saw the back side of the body and then saw the leg. Soon, the body was taken out, and it was identified that the body was that of Hemachandran,” said the person who dug out the body.

When the digging operations were taking place, revenue and police officials from both Kerala and Tamil Nadu were present.

A police official told the media that the body will now be sent for a DNA test to ensure that the body is that of Hemachandran.

--IANS

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