Missing for the past five days, a 31-year-old resident of Kotala village of Samrala was found buried in a forest area near Behlolpur village in Chamkaur Sahib on Monday.
The victim has been identified as Surinder Singh, who worked at a farm machinery workshop. He had gone missing on March 24. His brother Manpreet Singh stated that Surinder had left home for some work but not returned. Initially, the family kept searching for him on their own but to no avail. On Sunday, they lodged a missing persons’ report at Samrala police station.
The body was discovered after a local found a pair of slippers in the forest area and got suspicious. On probing further, he found the body buried in the forest and immediately informed the police.
The body was later dug up in the presence of an executive magistrate and sent to civil hospital for post-mortem.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP, Samrala) Harvinder Singh, said the body was in a decomposing state and no external injury marks were visible. He added that the autopsy report can clarify the exact cause of death.
The DSP added that one of the friends of the victim is under police scanner. As per the family, when they asked him, he told them that Surinder had gone out of station to buy some material for the workshop. The DSP further added that the victim’s motorcycle was found abandoned three days ago by Chamkaur Sahib police, which they had seized.