28-year-old Avakash Mahanta, an IT employee and part-time theatre artist was found dead in Mullakunta lake in Kukatpally on Tuesday. Avakash who was working with computer hardware company IBM, has been missing for the past five days, following which a social media campaign was launched to trace him.
Avakash a resident of Dilsukhnagar, and a native of Haryana. Locals had noticed a body floating in the lake following which authorities had fished out the body and identified him using his identity card.
Police suspect that the deceased could have accidentally fallen into the lake. “The victim had no injury remarks on his body. In the postmortem report , the doctor concluded that his death was caused due to drowning,” said Narasimhulu, KPHB Colony Sub Inspector. Police also recovered Avakash's bike from the vicinity.
The body was taken to state-run Gandhi hospital for autopsy, following the procedure and ascertaining the reason of his death, the body was handed over to his parents.
Though his friends raised suspicions that it could be a case of murder, police say that the autopsy report suggests otherwise. According to the police, when his body was fished out, Avakash was still wearing his office bag and footwear.
“It could be a death by suicide too. It is an isolated area, one has to reach that lake by walk as motorcycles can’t reach that spot. One more possibility is that he must have accidentally slipped and fallen into the lake.”
KPHB police have registered a case of suspicious death under CrPC 174. Avakash was missing since Thursday following which a missing complaint was registered with the Madhapur police. A social media campaign was also initiated, and many from the theatre community including actor Priyadarshi had made efforts to find him through social media.