Two police personnel were found dead in a paddy field, located near the Muttikulangara police camp in Kerala’s Palakkad district on Thursday, May 19. The deceased have been identified as Mohandas and Ashokan, both havildars attached to the camp, police said.

Both were not on duty and had been reported missing since Wednesday night, police said, adding that a probe was already on to trace them when their bodies were found. Electrocution was suspected to be the cause of death as burn marks were reported to be found on the bodies, but police say a post mortem is awaited to ascertain the actual cause of death. 

It has been suspected that they might have entered the field for fishing, local sources said. They were found in a field adjacent to the police camp. A search was launched after they went missing, and when they searched the field, they found two bodies, lying 100 metres away from each other. One of the deceased’s phones was recovered, and a search has been launched for the other deceased official’s phone. 

The police are looking into all possibilities and have said that the exact cause of death could be ascertained only after a detailed forensic examination and post-mortem.