TRICHY: A 14-year-old boy who has been missing since Thursday was found to have drowned in the Cauvery river after his body was recovered at Mukkombu barrage in Trichy on Friday. N Jayaraj of Periyakadai street, a Class IX student of ER higher secondary school, left home for school on Thursday, but police said he skipped classes and went to bathe at Mukkombu.
His father searched for him on Thursday but in vain. However, on Friday morning, the body of a boy was found floating between shutters 31 and 32 at Mukkombu barrage. SSI Govindharasu of Vaathalai station who investigated the case said the village administrative officer (VAO) of Kariamanickam village and police visited the spot and recovered the body.
Initially, the police were clueless about the identity as there was no complaint of boy missing in the surrounding police jurisdiction. Around that time, they got information that an old man had found a school bag with books on Cauvery river bed on Thursday and handed it over to Jeeyapuram police. Vaathalai police verified the books in the bag and ascertained the identity of the boy as Jayaraj. His body has been sent to Srirangam government hospital for post-mortem and a case registered.
