Five bodies found in Vontimitta tank in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district

Anantapur: The bodies of five persons suspected of being Red sanders smugglers from Tamil Nadu were found floating in Vointimitta tank in Kadapa district on Sunday.

The men had probably died two days ago. Around 30 red sanders woodcutters from Tamil Nadu had arrived in a lorry along with some labourers. However, they fled fearing a police raid.

A group of them ran towards Vontimitta tank located close to the Kadapa-Tirupati Highway and jumped into the tank to escape the police and forest officials. The tank was filled with heavy mud and it is presumed that the men got stuck in the mud and drowned.

Kadapa OSD operations Adnan Nayeem Asmi told this correspondent that the local police had received information about the dead bodies in the Vonitimitta tank on Sunday.

“We thoroughly checked all the nearby police stations, including neighbouring districts, about any missing cases, but no cases were registered,” he said.

The police and fire crews removed the bodies and conducted a thorough search of the tank to see if there were other bodies. The bodies were sent for post-mortem. There were no clues to the men’s identities except for the photograph of a woman found in the pocket of one of the deceased. The OSD said there was no police role in the incident.