Chandrasekhar had been missing for five days before the police stumbled upon the car in Tunga Canal; the police have not ruled out an accident.
Published Nov 04, 2022 | 1:03 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 04, 2022 | 1:05 PM
The body was found after the car was pulled out of the Tunga Canal (Sourced).
A five-day search for Chandrasekhar R, nephew of M P Renukacharya, the MLA representing Honnali and political secretary to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, ended at the Tunga Canal at Kadadakatte in Davangere’s Honnali taluk on Thursday, 3 November.
Chandrasekhar’s decomposed body was found in his car, which had sunken near the Canal Bridge on Thursday, five days after he had gone missing from his residence on Sunday, 30 November.
Though the search for the 25-year-old man had ended, the police were now trying to clear the mystery surrounding his death.
A police team under Davangere Superintendent of Police CB Rishyanth had been searching for Chandrasekhar and his car. The team stumbled upon some scratches on a part of the Tunga canal bridge and found some broken pieces that resembled parts of a car’s bumper.
A policeman, who walked down the canal’s bank under the bridge, spotted something that looked like a submerged car. An expert diver was roped in, and he confirmed that a car was lying under the water.
On getting the confirmation, the police lifted the car out of the canal using a crane, and found Chandrasekhar’s decomposing body in the rear seat of his white Hyundai Creta, bearing the registration number KA-17-MA-2534. The body was shifted to the Honnali Taluk Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
Sources in the police said they were checking with local residents whether they had seen anything that could help the probe or heard any suspicious sound.
Chandrasekhar was the son of M P Ramesh, MLA Renukacharya’s brother. The deceased man’s family said he had left home around 11.30 am on Sunday, saying he was heading to Gowri Gadde near Shivamogga to meet his spiritual guru, Vinay Guruji.
Chandrasekhar, nephew of MP Renukacharya (Sourced)
The family was also told that his friend, Kiran, would be accompanying him. After he had gone missing, the family feared that he had been kidnapped by the business rivals of Ramesh, a Class-1 contractor.
Initially, Chandrasekhar’s relatives believed that he would return home safe, even though they were aware that his phone had been switched off since 11.30 pm on Sunday. They panicked as the days went by.
On Thursday, a teary-eyed Renukacharya was seen speaking in a video that the police had taken all possible steps to track Chandrasekhar.
Soon after the missing man’s body was found, the police picked up his friend Kiran for questioning. The police later confirmed that Chandrasekhar had met his guru on Sunday evening, and spoke to a few friends in Delhi before the phone went silent and untraceable. The phone’s last tower location was near Honnali.
investigators who scoured through CCTV footage from nearby areas saw the car at Surahonne in Shivamogga’s Nyamathi taluk. The vehicle then seemed to be heading towards Honnali town.
The police then launched a thorough search for the vehicle in and around Honnali and found the car underwater.
A senior police officer said South First that prima facie the incident looked like an accident. “However, we are waiting for the family’s complaint for launching a further probe,” he added.
