Beltangady, February 21: The carcase of a man was traced in an isolated area near Netravati bridge in Dharmasthala on Friday February 20th.
Initially, sources said the body was that of Ramesh Poojary (62) from Mumbai, who had gone on a pilgrimage three months ago. But, by evening it was learnt that the body was not his.
But it was confirmed that the unknown person had been murdered.
The cops have held four persons in relation to the murder and took them to the crime spot. The suspects said that the murdered man was not Ramesh Poojary, but admitted to have killed the unidentified man. Ramesh had arrived to Dharmasthala from Mumbai in December and had gone missing. A case was registered by the Mumbai police, it is learnt.
Ramesh’s phone went switched off all this time. But few days ago the phone connected to the network all of a sudden, apparently used by one of the suspects. Mumbai cops tracked the IMEI number of the phone and held the suspects, who reportedly admitted to have killed Ramesh and robbed about Rs one lakh and jewellery from him but do not know about his dead body.
When they were brought to the spot where the body was found, they said it was not Ramesh’s, but of another person, whom they had killed. When probed further, they said after moving friendly with the unidentified man for four days they had taken him to the isolated place, robbed and killed him. But they do not know his identity. Search operation for Ramesh is underway.
The culprits have been identified as Basappa, Devendra, Shivanandi, and Mallesh all are from Bellary who are working as labourers.
Further investigations are carried out by CCB Mangaluru, Beltangady and Mumbai cops, as it is suspected that the arrested might have committed more than two murders.
