Missing truck driver found buried in his murderer’s backyard

Mangaluru: The missing truck driver who was accused of making off with the cooking oil consignment that he was suppose to transport has been found murdered. Apparently, the mastermind who committed the murder buried the mortal remains of his victim in his backyard a day before his daughter’s wedding at his house.

The victim Anil Kumar was employed as a truck driver at a transport company belonging to a former MLA of Moodbidri. The driver had apparently gone missing with cooking oil worth Rs 8 lakh along with the vehicle.

Incident synopsis

On August 28^th, Anil was transporting goods from Baikampady to Bengaluru. But the truck failed to reach its destination even after 2 days. Hence, the transport owner was convinced that the driver had cheated him and filed and case against him with the Panambur police. The police immediately started investigating the case but made no progress as all the people they interacted with had good opinion about the driver. However, since the day the investigation began, an ex-employee of the transport company identified as Asadullah was under the police radar. But Asadullah was careful and made sure nothing implicated him.

Victim and accused were colleagues

According to a source involved in the investigation the victim and accused were colleagues and knew each other well. On August 28^th, when Anil reached Charmadi Ghat, Asadullah followed him close by. They both met each other at Kottigehara and had meals together. During their meals, the accused gathered information from Anil that his next halt was at Hassan. Later, the accused along with his accomplices reached the spot and killed Anil. They then abandoned the lorry near Mandya and the goods were taken to various places to be sold. They also buried the victim in Asadullah’s backyard, where his daughter’s wedding was to take place the next day, August 30^th.

Investigation

Soon after the case was filed, the police contacted all the people who had come in contact with the victim and suspected their role in the crime. However, the police did not make any headway in the case. Even the accused was in contact with the police and was very cooperative with the investigation giving all details to help trace Anil and the truck.

Wrong license

The reason why the police did not suspect Asadullah was because while Anil Kumar was providing his identity after loading goods, he gave the wrong name and license. Anil was also known as Kiran and had two licenses. This mistake set  the police on the wrong trail.

Because of the two licenses the victim had, the police suspected that Anil had cheated the company and thus the focus was never on Asadullah, mentions the source.

The goof up

Eventually, the accused’s run ended when he made a goof up about his current job status, which turned out to be false. This tingled the suspicion of the police. The accused was arrested from a mosque near Bengaluru, from where he was planning to escape to Hyderabad.

 After his arrest and interrogation, Asadullah confessed to the crime. He also revealed that after disposing the body and the truck, he had tried to sell the stolen goods various means including APMC app.

The police are conducting further investigation into the case and inform that in the coming days, more arrests shall take place.