Bodies of five suspected Tamil Nadu woodcutters found floating near Kadapa-Tirupati highway
KADAPA: Bodies of five men suspected to be woodcutters from Tamil Nadu engaged in red sanders smuggling were found floating in Vontimitta Tank along the busy Kadapa-Tirupati highway on Sunday evening.
“We are yet to establish the identities of the victims,” Kadapa additional SP AN Ashmi told mediapersons here and added that the backpacks found floating near the bodies only contained a few thousand rupees, undergarments and torchlights. No identity proof or other such documents were found in the bags or on the person of the victims.
Locals noticed the bodies around 12:30 pm and alerted the Vontimitta Police immediately. After five hours, all five bodies were fished out with the help of locals. The deceased are men aged between 35-45 years and appear to be accustomed to heavy labour. There were no visible external wounds on the bodies which were badly swollen and in the early stages of decomposition.
Residents of Vontimitta and nearby villages claimed they had seen a few Tamil-speaking people moving about suspiciously. A local told TNIE the men had pelted stones at their houses and the police had been informed about the matter. It is suspected that the five were chased by the police on Friday as there was a search operation on the day near Vontimitta. “They may have jumped into the tank while trying to escape from the cops,” a local opined.
Additional SP Ashmi dismissed the theory saying search operations were a part of their routine and no cop had reported seeing any red sanders smuggler on the day. The bodies have been shifted to RIMS hospital in Kadapa for postmortem. Photos and videos of the victims have been taken and missing person complaints from bordering villages are being looked into, the additional SP said.