Chennai: Police are planning to exhume the body of a 28-year-old truck driver who went missing near Sholavaram two weeks ago. The decision comes after an investigation revealed that the man was beaten to death with a helmet during a drunken brawl and buried in a secluded area, police said.
On Oct 8, the driver’s brother, Rahul , lodged a complaint with Sholavaram police after Gokul , of Kanniyakumari, who worked at a private transport company in Alamathi near Sholavaram, failed to return home since Oct 7. The circumstances surrounding the suspected murder would be confirmed after the body is recovered and examined, officials said.
During interrogation, the men told police that they had quarrelled with Gokul while drinking. Gokul collapsed and died, following which the two men dug a pit and buried his body at the spot to conceal the crime, police said. The murder came to light after police detained two truck drivers, who confessed to the crime during interrogation. As the argument escalated, they took him to an isolated, bushy area and struck him on the head with a helmet. Police later took the suspects to the location, where they identified the burial spot.
Police are planning to exhume the body on Saturday in the presence of a tahsildar.
Police registered a missing-person case and examined CCTV footage from Alamathi. Based on suspicious movements captured in the footage, police detained two truck drivers, Ayyappan and Sathish , for questioning.