BARIPADA: Police recovered the badly-decomposed body of a missing lawyer from a car which was found submerged in a pond in Jharpokharia area of Mayurbhanj district on Monday.
The deceased was identified as Gulesh Gochhayat (42) of Bisoi. Gulesh was reportedly missing for almost three months.
Police said in the morning, some locals spotted a car in the pond at Silphodi Upperbeda under Jharpokharia police limits. On being alerted, police along with local fire services personnel reached the spot and pulled out the four-wheeler from the water body. To everyone’s surprise, a decomposed body was found in the back seat of the car.
On examining the wallet found inside the clothes on the body, police identified the deceased to be Gulesh.
Police said Gulesh, a lawyer by profession, had left home on September 10 to drop a friend at Kharagpur in West Bengal. However, he did not return home. When the lawyer’s mobile phone was found to be switched off, his wife Archana Gochhayat lodged a missing complaint with Bisoi police on September 11. Basing on the complaint, police registered a case and launched a search, but failed to trace Gulesh.
Locals suspected that some miscreants murdered Gulesh, placed his body in the car and disposed it of in the pond. Police said the body was sent to the hospital for autopsy. The car was also seized.
Family members of the deceased lawyer have been informed about the recovery of his body. The postmortem report is awaited to ascertain the exact cause of his death.
Jharpokharia and Bisoi police have launched a joint inquiry to determine the circumstances leading to the lawyer’s death. Further investigation is underway, police said.