The 24-year-old IT professional Sathwik Shastri, who went missing in the woods surrounding Bannerghatta National Park on the outskirts of Bangalore on Saturday evening, was found dead in Ragihalligudda region of the forests on Monday afternoon.
Sathwik had forayed into the forest area for a trek along with his friends Anupam Mannur and Ashish Shenoy, both 24, on Saturday evening after parking their two-wheelers nearby. Sathwik broke away from his two friends to answer nature's call behind some bushes, but never returned to join them. Anupam and Ashish, after trying to trace him in vain, returned and lodged a complaint with the police.
The rescue teams comprising police and forest department personnel were unable to trace him throughout the search operations on Sunday. When the search was intensified on Monday with the help of locals, who know the terrain well, Sathwik's body was found in Ragihalligudda region in Anekal.
Police suspect that Sathwik may have been trampled to death by elephants. The forest region where his body was found is part of the elephant corridor connecting Bannerghatta National Park and B R Hills.
However, an official version on the cause of Sathwik's death is yet to be announced.
Sathwik, a business analyst with Mu Sigma Business Solutions, Bangalore, is the son of Usha Sashtri, a senior scientist at ISRO, and Dinesh Shastri, who runs an auditing and network security firm.
