Hassan: A resident of Kodagu was found murdered in Hassan yesterday. Sampath, also known as Shambhu, was found dead in Sakleshpur taluk, Hassan District.

Police said the assailants murdered him and used his car to transport the body, dumping it in a forest area near Kallahalli before fleeing and leaving the vehicle behind.

Sampath is a resident of Kakkehole Junction in Somwarpet Taluk, Kodagu district. His decomposed body was discovered in a deep forested gorge near Kallahalli, four days after he went missing.

He was a contractor and the prime accused in a 2016 egg-pelting incident involving Chief Minister Siddaramaiah when he was the Opposition Leader visiting Madikeri. The Police had arrested him for pelting an egg on Siddaramaiah’s convoy, and he was out on bail.

According to the Police, Sampath borrowed a car from his friend John in Kushalnagar on April 9 and set out towards Hassan. His mobile phone was switched off later that day, prompting his family to file a missing person report at the Kushalnagar Police Station.

The next day, on April 10, villagers near Kallahalli in Yeslur Police limits spotted a blood-stained car abandoned near a coffee estate. A driver who had brought labourers to the plantation first noticed the vehicle and alerted locals, who then informed the Police.

Responding swiftly, the Yeslur Police launched a massive search operation. The search, aided by local youths, continued for four days through difficult terrain. Eventually, Sampath’s body was found dumped in a gorge. Due to the time elapsed, the body had begun decomposing, but notably, it had not been disturbed by wild animals.

Preliminary examination of the scene and the vehicle led the Police to conclude that Sampath was murdered elsewhere, likely inside the car and his body was later dumped in the gorge. The vehicle, found with visible bloodstains, was confirmed to belong to businessman from Kushalnagar.

The case has been registered at the Yeslur Police Station, and the body has been shifted to the district hospital in Madikeri for postmortem examination.

Kodagu Superintendent of Police K. Ramarajan confirmed that two individuals — Ganapathi and Kiran — are under strong suspicion in connection with the murder. Notably, both Sampath and Ganapathi were co-accused in the egg-pelting case.

While the motive behind the murder is still under investigation, preliminary findings point toward a possible financial dispute or an illicit affair. Police are now examining Sampath’s call records and interrogating individuals with whom he had previous altercations.