The body of an 18-year-old student from Hyderabad who went missing in Finland in May has been recovered from the sea in Helsinki, according to information shared by the Indian Embassy in Finland with his family.
According to PTI, the Indian Embassy informed the family via email on Friday that Finnish authorities had recovered the body of Manideep Reddy from the sea in Helsinki. The development was confirmed by the family's lawyer, K.L.B. Kumar, on Saturday.
Manideep was pursuing a Bachelor's programme in Software and Systems Engineering at the Lahti campus of Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT University). He was residing at Ritaniemenkatu in Lahti.
Manideep was last seen at a shopping mall in Helsinki on May 5, after which he went missing.
Speaking to PTI, Kumar said the family believes the circumstances surrounding the student's death are suspicious and alleged that the investigation by the Finnish authorities was inadequate.
"We have many doubts. After two months, the body has been recovered. We strongly feel that it is a suspicious death and not a natural death," Kumar told PTI, adding that Manideep's parents suspect something may have happened to him on the day he disappeared.
The lawyer alleged that the Finnish government was intentionally suppressing "many facts/things" and attempting to portray the case as a natural death. He further claimed that the investigation had not been conducted properly.
According to PTI, Kumar urged the Central government to facilitate the parents' travel to Finland so they could identify the body, make inquiries and understand the circumstances surrounding their son's death.
"We demand that the death should be investigated properly. They are supposed to investigate the circumstances under which the boy disappeared and how the death occurred," he told PTI.
Kumar also claimed that while Finnish police initially kept the family informed after a missing person's case was registered, all communication stopped after May 29.
Earlier, on June 19, Manideep's father, Gujja Muthyam Reddy, had told that a friend of his son from Delhi had lodged a complaint with the Finnish police at the family's request after the student went missing.
At the time, Muthyam Reddy had alleged that despite repeated emails, phone calls and continuous efforts to obtain updates on the investigation and his son's whereabouts, the Finnish authorities had stopped responding after May 29.
According to PTI, the father had said the family had received no further information about the progress of the investigation despite repeated attempts to contact the concerned authorities.
The family has now demanded a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to Manideep's disappearance and death and has sought the Centre's assistance in pursuing the matter with the Finnish authorities.
(With inputs from PTI)
