ONGOLE: A bank employee from Hyderabad died due to suspected dehydration and his associate went missing after they went into the dense Nallamala forest in search of a supposed treasure trove. The third member of the team managed to come out of the forest and approached the police, who launched a search for the missing person.
The body of the bank employee was recovered from five km inside the woodland from the Tativaripalli check-post.
According to the police, the deceased, Katta Sivakumar, 45, from Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, and a supervisor with the Secunderabad branch of Canara Bank, along with Dalavath Krishna Naik, 45, and Bodu Hanumantha Rao, 64, both from Munnangi village in Kollipara Mandal of Guntur district, were friends for the past couple of years.
“The trio are said to have undertaken such expeditions in the past in search of hidden treasure troves in the forests of Kurnool, Chittoor and also in neighbouring Karnataka,’’ a police official said.
Podili police inspector Sk Meera Sahib said that on May 12, the trio met at Markapuram and decided to go on yet another expedition to try their luck. The same day, they entered the dense forest from near a temple, and covered around two km between Tativaripalli and Magellamudupu villages, police said. However, two days later, their food and water supplies ran out, and Naik decided to return alone.
By the evening of May 14, the trio traversed three hills and ran short of water and food. However, they went forward and reached the fourth hill. The same night, Krishna Naik decided to return leaving the two others behind.
By Wednesday, Naik could hardly manage to reach a road on the Markapuram side of the forest and fell unconscious at a roadside. A sadhu, found Naik and offered him food and water after which the latter recovered. By night, he reached the Markapuram station and told police about their failed hunt. They asked him to approach Tativaripalli police who started the investigation.
A special police team, which went 5 km deep into the forest from the point identified by Krishna Naik, found Siva Kumar’s body. With the help of workers, the body was brought out and shifted to the government hospital. The search for the missing Hanumantha was still on when last reports came.
According to police, the trio were in possession of some maps and places where they hoped to find hidden treasures. “As the area beyond the fourth hill falls under HM Padu police they will also make searches from tomorrow,’’ a police official said.