The highly decomposed body of a 45-year-old realtor-cum-contractor, who had been missing since April 14, was found floating in a lake in KR Puram on Tuesday.

While the police said they were yet to ascertain the cause of the death, the victim’s family has alleged murder, and also negligence by the police in tracing him, even after a missing complaint was filed. The police said it might be a case of suicide, though they did not rule out foul play.

P S Harsha, DCP (East), said they were awaiting the autopsy report and a team has been formed to investigate the case. The body was found at Yele Mallappa Shetty lake, also known as Avalahalli lake.

The victim, K M Ananth Kumar, 45, an engineer, was the proprietor of General Engineering Construction Company in JP Nagar, which has around 150 employees. Kumar, his wife Savitha and their two children were living in JP Nagar. He was undertaking several construction works near Seegehalli, Kannamangala, Whitefield, Hoskote and other places around KR Puram.

Kumar’s family members had a lodged a complaint with the KR Puram police, saying that he had gone missing. Kumar was in debt and many people were threatening him to return the money and he was repaying in small instalments, one of his relatives told Deccan Herald.

On April 15, one of his employees received a call from a stranger who told him, “Why should your boss do these kinds of things. Look, what has happened now.” The panicked employee called up Kumar, but he did not respond. The  employee called up Kumar’s family members, informing them about the call, and told them that something suspicious was happening, the relative said.

The relatives started calling Kumar on his phone, but there was no response. They started searching for him at several places, including KR Puram, but in vain. They grew suspicious and lodged a missing complaint with the police the same day.

The next day, they met the City Police Commissioner and briefed him. Subsequently, a kidnapping case was taken up, he added.

Another family member alleged that the laxity of the police had led to such an incident. The police kept on saying that efforts were on to trace him.

“Many police officers said he might have committed suicide, but that is not the case as he has seen a lot of ups and downs and has come up in life the hard way.”