Kin in trouble after secretly burying man who died of stab wounds

Secretly burying a 55-year-old man who died of stab injuries has spelled trouble for his son and other family members.

Muniraju, a carpenter, was found dead near his home close to Mangammanapalya Lake in southern Bengaluru, on May 20. It was morning walkers who had found the body and immediately identified it as that of Muniraju because he was known to many people in the area.

Muniraju’s son Manjunath (25) and other family members soon learnt about the death. Although the death was suspicious because of the stab injuries, the family didn’t inform the police and took it directly to the graveyard for final rites.

However, police learnt about the death in the nick of time and rushed to the graveyard. They stopped the final rites and shifted the body to the mortuary. A post-mortem was requested.

“We suspected something fishy and registered a case of unnatural death under mysterious circumstances,” a police officer said. When questioned by the police, Manjunath and others said that Muniraju had died after collapsing under the influence of alcohol or suffering cardiac arrest because of alcoholism.

Police managed to retrieve a blood-soaked shirt, trousers and innerwear of the deceased from his house, which his family had changed before the final rites. “The clothes clearly indicated that he was stabbed to death and that the injuries were not caused by any accidental fall,” a senior officer said. The post-mortem report arrived on May 23. It stated: “Death was due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of stab injury sustained. However, viscera has been sent for chemical analysis.”

Police changed the tone of the FIR, invoking IPC sections related to murder and causing disappearance of the evidence of the offence.

While police do not suspect Manjunath, they are trying to track down the people who had informed him first. It was these people who had asked Manjunath to not file a police complaint as they had seen with their owns eyes his father collapsing on the ground under the influence of alcohol. “We have some major clues about the killers and we’ll arrest them soon,” the officer said.