ANGUL: Police recovered the body of a 32-year-old man floating in a pond at Santarabandh village in Kaniha area here on Thursday.
The deceased was identified as Pankaj Behera of Badahira village. His body was found with a cotton towel tied around his neck, while no external injury marks were visible.
Police said Pankaj, who is married and has a son, earlier worked as a driver but was currently unemployed. He was reported missing by his family members on Wednesday evening.
Villagers of Santarabandh discovered his body in the pond on Thursday morning and alerted Kaniha police. A team rushed to the spot for investigation. Though no visible injuries were found, police suspect that Pankaj may have been strangled to death using the towel. The body was seized for postmortem.
Pankaj’s brother Prakash Behera has lodged a complaint alleging murder. Based on the complaint, Kaniha police registered a case and launched an investigation.