Kochi, March 22 (IANS) Two days after a man went missing in Thodupuzha near Kerala’s Kochi, the police on Saturday arrested his former business partner and two others and recovered his body from a manhole at a catering warehouse.
Bju Joseph, 50, went missing from near his home on Thursday. On Friday, his family registered a missing person case and police launched their probe.
The police cracked the case after they took into custody a known history-sheeter and based on his statement, arrested Joseph’s former business partner Joemon.
Both Joseph and Joemon, after their business partnership ended, had serious differences of opinion with the former, according to Joemon, owing him a large sum of money.
There were frequent skirmishes between the two and it’s now believed that this enmity ended up with Joseph’s murder.
It was after questioning Joemon, the police got to know that there were two more others involved in the crime and they have also been taken into custody.
Joseph, according to the police, was picked up by this gang and forcefully taken away in a vehicle. Later, he was taken to the catering warehouse and was beaten up, causing his death.
The gang decided to dispose of the body but putting it in a manhole where the food waste was being dumped.
After placing the body there, they used concrete to fill it up and covered it with the remaining food waste.
After the police got the information about the body’s location, a police team, accompanied by forensic experts, reached the warehouse and retrieved the body from the manhole.
The police officials have now completed the inquest and even though they do not doubt that the body is that of Joseph, they will now wait for the forensic reports to establish that.
The police, after registering the arrest of the accused, will produce them before a local court and seek their custody for further interrogation.
–IANS
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