CHENNAI: The body of a man, believed to be in his thirties, was found behind the Avvaiyar statue on Marina Beach on Monday. The identity of the deceased man is yet to be established.
A few people out on their morning walk noticed the man lying unconscious and thought he had passed out after drinking. Since he lay motionless for long, they alerted police personnel.
A police team that reached the spot confirmed him to be dead and sent the body to the Omandurar Government General Hospital for postmortem. A police officer said there were injuries on the body and signs that he bled from his nose, raising suspicion of a murder. “He could have been strangled to death, but we can’t be sure of the cause of death until we get the postmortem report,” said an investigating officer.
The man was wearing a black shirt and grey trousers. There was no personal identification on him.
Police have registered a case under Section 174 (unnatural death) and a special team has been set up to get started on the case. Police have begun skimming through the surveillance footage from CCTV cameras on the stretch of Kamarajar Salai between Vivekanandar House and DGP office for possible leads. There are 10 CCTV cameras installed at the DGP office and at least another two dozen cameras at Vivekanandar House, Light House, Queen Marys College, the commissionerate for people with disablities, slum clearance board office, University of Madras annexe office and Presidency College.
On May 21, 2020, when beaches were closed to visitors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the body of a 40-year-old was found behind the Veeramamunivar statue on the Marina coast.