Peerumedu: A day after a man’s body was recovered from the dangerously deep canyon at Kolahalamedu, also known as suicide point, the police have identified him using the registration number of the motorbike which was found abandoned at the tourist spot.
The deceased, Arun, 20, son of Thankappan of Thekkumpurathu, Kandanadu, near Thripunithura, was working with a private company that was entrusted with the job of loading cash in ATMs in the Elamkulam region in Ernakulam district.
The incident occurred Friday evening but the body was retrieved only by 6 p.m. Saturday from nearly 1,300 ft below.
Fire force personnel had a tough time lifting up the body using a crane from the deep canyon, which was later identified by the victim’s relatives.
His relatives had lodged a ‘man missing’ complaint after he failed to return home on Thursday evening. The family members informed the police that he had gone to attend the festival at the Nadakkavu temple in Udayamperoor along with a friend.
Though the security person at the tourist spot had claimed that there could be more than one person, the search yielded no evidence of the presence of another individual.
The statement by the security man had sparked off rumors in the area that two youths died after falling off the cliff at Kolahalamedu.
However, the police dismissed the rumors outright terming the eye-witness testimony unreliable.
The security person alerted the police after he came across a bike parked in a deserted area around 6 p.m. The police and the officials of the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) searched the area and recovered a helmet, sandals, broken pieces of a mobile phone, and the entry pass to the tourism spot. There were also skid marks along the path.
The rescue team had failed to trace the youth despite having launched operations along with local people from Saturday morning.
The police are yet to ascertain whether he fell off the cliff accidentally or slipped while trying to take a selfie with his cellphone from the edge of the cliff.