Vijayawada: A 22-year-old engineering student, who had gone missing on Wednesday, was found hanging from a neem tree in a mangrove forest near Ramakrishnapuram of Avanigadda in Krishna district on Saturday.
According to police, Jaragu Lakshmivardhan, a final-year BTech student at a private college in Kanchikacharla, had returned home on March 31 to attend the annual Ganganamma Matali Jatara in Kodur. His family stated that he was last seen on Wednesday night. On Lakshmivardhan’s birthday on Thursday, his father tried to contact him but found his phone was switched off.
Anxious about this, the family lodged a missing complaint with the police, later that day. Three days later, on Saturday, villagers found Lakshmivardhan’s body hanging from a neem tree in the mangroves. Kodur SI Chanakya and his team rushed to the scene, followed by circle inspector Yuva Kumar. Following preliminary inspection, the body was identified by the grieving family.
Meanwhile, questions surrounding the circumstances of the young man’s death have led to suspicions of foul play. Family members pointed out that Lakshmivardhan’s pants and mobile phone were missing—both of which he had on him when he had left the house.
“If he really intended to end his life, why would he remove his pants? Where is his phone?” questioned a relative, doubting the suicide theory.
The family is pressing for a deeper probe, alleging that someone may have murdered Lakshmivardhan and staged it as a suicide.
SI Chanakya confirmed that the missing case is now registered as a suspicious death. “We are awaiting the postmortem report to proceed further,” he said.
