Confusion over the identity of a decomposed body found in a marshy land near Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) premises near Kalamassery prevails as preliminary investigations could not confirm if the body was that of missing Bengaluru resident Suraj Lama.
The police are awaiting results of DNA tests to ascertain the identity of the deceased, while the post-mortem examination could not confirm the cause of death. The primary round of autopsy has not found any injury or fractures on the decomposed body, police sources said. “We have been told that more examinations will have to be conducted as the body was in an advanced stage of decomposition with mostly skeleton remaining,” an officer with the Kalamassery police said. The police have registered a case of unnatural death following the recovery of the body.
Santon Lama, the son of Mr. Lama, could not confirm if the remains were those of his father.
The police have sent blood samples of Mr. Santon Lama to forensic labs in Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad for DNA tests. The samples were sent to Hyderabad also after he expressed doubts over the examination in Kerala, the officer said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Santon Lama alleged that the Government Medical College Hospital at Kalamassery had allowed his father with memory loss to leave the premises without supervision. “They first recorded him as an ‘unknown person’ and corrected the entry to his real name after the case gained media attention. Is this how the system works in Kerala?” he asked.
Mr. Suraj Lama was deported from Kuwait on October 5, reportedly following an alcohol poisoning incident, which caused memory loss. His son alleged that he was reportedly deported from Kuwait to Kochi, instead of Bengaluru, without informing his relatives. The Thrikkakara police had on October 8 taken him into custody and shifted him to the Government Medical College Hospital at Kalamassery, from where he went missing on October 10.
The incident gained attention after Mr. Santon Lama filed a habeas corpus plea before the Kerala High Court. A special investigation team was formed to probe the missing case following a High Court directive.
Published – December 03, 2025 12:15 am IST
