The Kazhakuttom police on Thursday recovered the driving license of a 39-year-old Thalassery native near the skeletal remains that were found on the Karyavattom campus of Kerala University a day ago.
While the identity of the deceased is yet to be ascertained, the license belongs to one Avinash Anand. A preliminary inquiry has found Avinash’s family to have relocated to Chennai several years ago.
A case had been filed by his relatives in Chennai after Avinash was reported to have gone missing in 2017. He is believed to have worked in Technopark and Infopark. His father is expected to reach Thiruvananthapuram on Friday, the police said.
The Thiruvananthapuram City police have also commenced a scrutiny of man-missing cases reported in the recent past in police stations in the region.
The skeletal remains were found by a pump operator in an abandoned water tank near the Botany department on the campus on Wednesday.
Forensic experts and police officials also discovered a shirt, trousers, bag, tie, and a pair of spectacles inside the tank where the skeleton was found. A rope attached to the skeleton with a noose-like knot at one end suggested the possibility of suicide. The deceased person is suspected to have entered the tank through a manhole, official sources said.
The skeleton, believed to be nearly a year old, has been sent for forensic tests. The police have sealed the tank and its immediate surroundings. A case has been registered under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and inquest proceedings have been completed.