Wayanad: The body of the dairy farmer Surendran, 55, a native of Murani near Meenangadi, was found on Thursday noon by the search team of Thurki Jeevan Raksha Samithy in Kalpetta.
The body was retrieved from the lower reaches of the Karappuzha Dam reservoir at Malakkad about 2 km away from the spot from where Surendran was missing. The search operations that were stopped by twilight on Wednesday, resumed on Thursday morning.
Fire Force and NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) personnel were also engaged in the search operations along with the police.
Surendran, who was cutting grass for the cattle, went missing on Wednesday morning and people suspected a crocodile attack as there were marks of dragging off the person for a few meters. However, the police after conducting an inquest of the body dismissed the crocodile factor as there were no such deep wounds in the body.
Meanwhile, mystery is looming over the death as the body was found far away from the spot where the hapless man was cutting grass. One of his boots was also found near the spot whereas the other one was found far away from the spot. What is confusing the sleuths is the visible evidence of a scuffle. Damage to the undergrowth indicates that the person was dragged by someone.
However, police shifted the body to Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode for postmortem. The body would be released to relatives by noon on Friday and the last rites of the dead would be performed in the afternoon.
