Mangaluru: Surathkal police cracked a missing person case that turned into a murder investigation after the decomposed body of Mukesh Mandal,27, from West Bengal was found in an STP tank at a residential layout. In connection with the case, police arrested Laxman Mandal alias Lakhan,30, a resident of Bado village, Malda district, West Bengal.Providing details, Mangaluru City police commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy CH said on June 24, after 9 pm, Mukesh Mandal, a resident of Malda District, went missing from the layout. Based on a complaint filed by Dipankar, a co-worker and also a native of West Bengal, Surathkal police registered a missing person case on July 2.Later, at 10 am on Aug 21, the decomposed body of the missing person was found inside the STP tank at the same layout, where he was working as a daily wage labourer. Based on a complaint by Chetan, Surathkal police registered a murder case under Sections 103(1) and 238 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and continued the investigation.To trace the accused, a special team comprising PSI Shashidhar Shetty and ASI Rajesh Alva was sent to West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. During questioning, the accused confessed that at 10 am on June 24, while he and Mukesh Mandal were consuming alcohol inside an under-construction building at the layout, Mukesh reportedly showed him obscene videos of the accused’s wife stored on his mobile phone. Enraged, Laxman allegedly took an iron rod from the adjoining room and struck Mukesh on the head, killing him. To hide the crime, he dumped the body into the STP tank and covered it with a plywood sheet.Following his confession, on Thurday, the accused was formally arrested, produced before a court, and remanded to five days in police custody. It was also revealed that the accused Laxman already had two assault cases registered against him at the Ratua police station in West Bengal.The breakthrough in this case was achieved under the guidance of ACP North Subdivision Srikant K and the leadership of Surathkal police inspector Pramod Kumar P.
