HYDERABAD: Police, who investigated the State Armed Reserve (SAR) constable P Muralinath’s mysterious death, on Sunday rubbished allegations that he had been harassed and said he had met his end due to epilepsy.
Muralinath, who was deputed to Noida to work as a driver for the family of Vivek Dube, chief of Octopus, the State anti-terror wing, went missing on July 28.
He was found dead two days later near Gwalior. His family members had alleged that Dube’s family harassed Muralinath to death.
Investigations by the Madhya Pradesh Police and the Central Crime Station (CCS) sleuths revealed that Muralinath had left Dube’s house in Noida at night on July 28 to purchase medicines.
CCS DCP Md Iqbal said, ‘‘Muralinath surfaced at the house of one Ram Swarup Sharma in Bedkari village, Bhind district, Madhya Pradesh in the night on July 29 in an inebriated condition.
He knocked on Sharma’s doors but the villager didn’t respond as the area was infested with dacoits.’’ Muralinath was found the next morning on the outskirts of Jaithpur, one-and-half kms from Bedkari. ‘‘He was noticed by a boy, Shubham, in an unconscious state. He informed the villagers who suspected that Muralinath might have suffered convulsions as there was froth all over his mouth,’’ Iqbal explained.
Muralinath was shifted to the Community Health Centre at Gouhad by the Gouhad Chouraha police head constable Balakrishna Bharadwaj but he was dead by then. ‘‘Our team talked to Dr Gaya Ram Sakhya of the health centre, who said Muralinath had died of cardiac arrest,’’ Iqbal said.
The doctors, who conducted the post-mortem, kept a finger tip ofMuralinath for identification in future. The body was buried as the police there had failed to establish its identity. About the missing SIM card, the police said Muralinath lost his mobile phone near Sharma’s house in Bedkari. ‘‘Sharma found a broken mobile phone the next day but there was no SIM card in it.
With the help of the mobile, Muralinath’s identity was established,’’ Iqbal said.
The police also refuted allegations that Muralinath was harassed or forced to do menial jobs. ‘‘We inquired with the IPS officer’s family and also the other servants in Dube’s house but found no evidence of harassment,’’ Iqbal said.
