A 47-year-old man was arrested on Sunday in Thanjavur district for allegedly murdering a 27-year-old man and chopped the body into pieces and buried them in the backyard of his house at Cholapuram village. The accused was identified as Keshavamurthy and has been lodged in the Tiruchi Central Prison.
Based on the reported confession of Keshavamurthy, the police exhumed the body parts on Sunday. A spot postmortem was done and the remains were handed over to the relatives of the victim identified as Ashok Raj of Manalmedu Maharajapuram village in Thanjavur district.
Keshavamurthy was staying alone at the village after being estranged from his two wives. He is said to have been offering Siddha treatment.
The police said the victim, Ashok Raj, who had been working in Chennai, returned home for Deepavali. He went missing from November 13 following which the Cholapuram police registered a missing person case on a complaint from his grandmother. It came to light during enquiries that Ashok Raj met Keshavamurthy apparently for treatment in his genitals. It is alleged that Keshavamurthy had indulged in homosexual activity with Ashok Raj apparently after the latter became unconscious after consuming some drugs.
Realising that Ashok Raj had died and fearing police action, Keshavamurthy had chopped the body into pieces and buried them behind his house. Some parts are suspected to have been thrown into a waterbody.
It came to light during inquiry that Keshavamuthy had allegedly committed the murder of a man identified as Mohamed Anas in a similar fashion in 2022. The Cholapuram police have registered a case under IPC Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence).
