Rajahmundry: Villagers of G Errampalem and Kotha Tungapadu hesitated to report to police after they discovered a partially burnt body on the path between the two villages.

District Superintendent of Police Rajakumari and other senior police officials who visited the site said that the culprits doused the body with petrol and used logs to burn it with an intent to leave it beyond recognition. A hand and the head were partially burnt, they said and added that it was a village revenue officer who reported the incident on Thursday though the incident was said to have occurred sometime on Wednesday.

During the course of the investigations, police discovered that a youth named Praveen Kumar (20) of Chaitanya Nagar in Kadiam mandal was missing since three days. The missing youth was said to have undergone a dental procedure following which he wore clips to his teeth. Based on this discovery coupled with the post mortem report of the unidentified dead body police found that the burnt body too had clippings to its teeth. Praveen's mother Rajamma and other relatives said that he underwent a dental procedure recently. Police, thus, confirmed that the body was that of Praveen.

Further investigations revealed that Praveen completed his B.Pharma and employed in a firm in Rajahmundry. At the workplace, he developed intimacy with a married woman. Police believe that co-workers might have killed Praveen due to that intimacy. They are now checking the antecedents of Praveen's co-workers.

Meanwhile, YSRCP's Rajahmundry constituency leader Girijala Veeraju demanded strict action against the perpetrators of the crime.