Seoni Malwa: The city police claimed to have worked out the mystery behind the murder of a middle-aged man by arresting four persons on Friday.
The man Sukhram Korku, resident of Chapda Gharai village, was reported missing from his house since Diwali, and his skeleton wrapped in a rag was found under a stone after 40 days.
The police told Free Press that four of the five persons involved in the murder were arrested, and another was still at large.
In charge of Seoni Malwa police station Ajay Tiwari said the son of Sukhram, Sudhram, lodged a complaint on November 18 that, his father who had gone to Samardha village to celebrate Diwali did not return home.
Accordingly, the police launched a search for Sudhram. About the reason for the murder, Tiwari said Sukhram had a dispute with Hariram over black magic.
Immediately after the dispute, Hariram had tied Sukhram to a mango tree, but on getting information, his mother Sallobai and brother Ajay freed him.
Soon after that incident, Hariram resolved to bump off Sukhram.
Just before the murder of Sukhram, five persons including Hariram, Maniram, Ganjan, Shanker and Durgu, residents of Samardha village, consumed liquor on the banks of the Bhaji river.
As soon as Sukhram reached the spot, Hariram hit him with a stick, and when he slumped to the ground, all the five persons strangulated him and put his body wrapped in a rag under stones near Junapani stream in Mirchirkho forest.
On December 19, when some residents of Kamtha began to search for Sukhram in the forest, they found a skeleton wrapped in a rag and informed the police about it.
The son of Sukhram identified the skeleton as that of his father with the help of clothes.
During the search for missing Sukhram, a team led by deputy inspector Akash Sharma questioned Maniram, Hariram, Ganjan and Shanker about the incident. All the four persons confessed to have murdered Sukhram.
