BENGALURU: A 26-year-old man who went missing earlier this month was found dead 16 days later in a well, with his body tied to a stone. Investigations revealed that the deceased was allegedly killed by his two friends to avoid bearing the cost of medical treatment after he suffered a spinal cord injury from a fall during a New Year party. The incident took place in Vajarahalli village of Magadi taluk in the Bengaluru South district.
The deceased has been identified as Vinod Kumar (26), a daily wage labourer. The accused are Sudeep (19), a construction worker, and Prajwal (19), a car driver with a private company. All three are residents of Kalyanapura village in Magadi taluk. They were arrested on Sunday and remanded in police custody.
According to the police, during the alcohol party, the friends asked Vinod to climb a coconut tree to collect tender coconuts to mix with liquor. He lost balance and fell from a height of nearly 30 feet, suffering a severe spinal cord injury. As Vinod screamed in pain, they panicked and decided to take him home.
However, while heading back, Sudeep and Prajwal worried that villagers might question them and that the medical treatment would cost several lakhs, which they would have to bear. To avoid this responsibility, they allegedly threw Vinod in to a lake near Vajarahalli, which has minimal public movement.
Youth’s body tied to stone & dumped in well
They retrieved the body and took it to a nearby well and dumped the body after tying it to a stone using wire before fleeing the scene.
The police said that since Vinod did not return home his grandfather approached the police station and filed a missing complaint on January 2. The police launched a search, while Vinod’s parents, who stay in Bengaluru, searched for him in the city, suspecting that he might have come here. CCTV footage was also analysed, but it did not yield any lead.
On January 17, a few youths who had gone swimming in the well found a body tied to a stone and alerted the police. As Vinod was last seen with his friends, they were taken in for questioning. The accused allegedly confessed to killing him due to fear of medical expenses and other consequences.