A 40-year-old building contractor, who has been missing since May 1, was found murdered and buried in a septic tank at an under-construction factory at Poothurai in the neighbouring Villupuram district on Thursday.
The police exhumed the highly decomposed body and sent it for post-mortem to the Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). Vivek Prasath, a building contractor hailing from Kolkata, was a resident of Reddiyarpalayam in Puducherry.
According to Superintendent of Police (North) Rachna Singh, the victim came to Puducherry last year to start a bottling factory. He had identified land at Poothurai for the factory and construction was under way.
Prasath had left home on May 1 to go to his factory site in Poothurai village. As he did not return till the next day, his wife Jayanthi Prasath lodged a missing complaint with the Reddiyarpalayam police.
Bike found
Meanwhile, a man found a white DSK Benelli bike worth ₹5 lakh parked near the new lighthouse at Vambakeerapalayam. George found the documents inside the bike and informed Vivek Prasath’s family to collect the vehicle from him.
A special team under the supervision of Ms. Singh inspected the area for clues. But it could not locate him. Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that the victim was last seen with Babu, his helper, on May 1 on the factory premises.
The police team found a mound of sand and blood splashed on one of the walls of the factory.
They dug up the mound and found the highly decomposed body of Prasath buried in a septic tank.
It was exhumed in the presence of an Executive Magistrate and the Villupuram district police.
Ms. Singh said the police had evidence and the accused had been identified. As the murder had been committed in Tamil Nadu, the case would be transferred to the Villupuram district police.
