Bhubaneswar: The family of a middle-aged man, who went missing from Bhubaneswar on July 17 and his body was later found on Kandala riverbank in Cuttack district on July 20, alleged today that he was murdered by someone for reasons not ascertained yet.

The deceased was identified as Nabaghana Patasani alias Banka, who belonged to Bhubaneswar.

According to a source, Nabaghana had left along with his car from Baramunda locality and did not return home. After searching for him at all probable locations, his family initially lodged an FIR with Khandagiri police. They also lodged an FIR with Bharatpur police in this connection.

Subsequently, the family came to know that a person from Soubhagya Nagar of the State Capital was using Nabaghana’s car which the latter had taken with him on July 17. They recovered the car and handed over the vehicle to Bharatpur police. During a detailed probe, the police came to know that Nabaghana had mortgaged the car and borrowed some money from the man.

On July 20, Nabaghana’s body was spotted while lying under mysterious circumstances on the riverbank near Niali locality under Gobindpur police limits of Cuttack district. Injury marks were seen on his head and neck. Spots of bleeding were also noticed when the body was recovered.

However, as the body could not then be identified, Gobindpur police had registered an unnatural death (U/d) case and launched a probe into the suspicious death. Post-mortem of the body was conducted.

On the other side, the family of the deceased recently identified his body from a copper finger ring that he was wearing. Nabaghana might have been killed over borrowed money, they suspected.