Bhubaneswar:
A man believed to have been murdered sprang a surprise when he walked back home in Odisha.
19-year-old Dibya Lochan Gadtia, who went missing July 8, told police and family that he had gone to the temple town of Puri to witness Lord Jagannath's chariot festival (Rath yatra) after enjoying a feast thrown by his friends.
Dibya, was presumed dead by his family in Vijaynagar village in Deogarh district, 300 km from Bhubaneswar. They had lodged a complaint with police on July 12 alleging that six of his friends might have killed him.
Police took action and arrested all six accused for the presumed crime, inspector in-charge of Deogarh police station Khira Sindhu Nayak said today.
In an interesting turn of events, a decomposed body was found in a forest, about 60 km away from the Gadtia's village.
Dibya's father Jasodhar identified it as the body. After conducting autopsy, police handed over the body to Jasodhar and his family to perform the last rites.
Jasodhar had lodged another complaint with the police seeking action against the six friends as a mobile phone used by his son was found on one of them.
Police will now submit a final report before the court and seek the release of the six friends, currently in judicial custody, Nayak said.
Another investigation would be carried out to identify the man who was cremated, he said.