Bengaluru: On May 11, police recovered the half-naked body of a man in a bush of a vacant land opposite a medical college at Attibele, Anekal, Bengaluru Urban district. Lying supine, it bore no injury marks. Nor were there weapons near the body. Suspecting a death due to cardiac arrest or suicide, police registered a case of unnatural death.Later in the day, the body was identified as that of one Gangadharaiah, 60, a resident of Yadavanahalli on Sarjapura Road. A truck driver by profession, he lived with his wife and two children. According to his family, Gangadharaiah went missing after he left home on May 10. That day, they filed a complaint. Gangadharaiah’s wife told police that his mobile phone was switched off. Police launched a search in the area for the phone, but they could not find it.Meanwhile, the body was shifted to hospital for an autopsy. Also, police kept an eye on the IME number of the mobile device. If anyone switched on the device, there would be an alert. A few days later came the shocking news from the doctors who carried out the autopsy. The ribs of the man were fractured, and hence he died, the doctors told cops. Asked how it could have happened as there were no apparent physical injuries on the body, the doctors opined that something hard hit Gangadharaiah’s chest, resulting in breaking the ribs and killing him.However, his family members said they didn’t suspect anyone behind the killing. Left with no further clues to continue the investigation, cops waited for the one possibility—Gangadharaiah’s mobile phone becoming active.A special team led by police inspector S Raghavendra was formed to crack the mystery. Finally, Raghavendra received an alert showing that Gangadharaiah’s mobile became active. “It was switched on for an hour or so; a new SIM card was inserted, and the location was Salem, Tamil Nadu,” Superintendent of police (Bengaluru Rural) CK Baba told STOI. A team was dispatched to Salem.There, another shocker awaited cops. They traced the man using Gangadharaiah’s mobile phone to the bed of Salem govt hospital. The man, identified as Naresh Kumar Raja, 24, of Salem, had received a bullet shot in the leg by Tamil Nadu police. According to Tamil Nadu police records, Raja is wanted in at least 22 criminal cases, including three murders and more than a dozen robberies.“We questioned Raja on the hospital bed. He spilled the beans, saying he was the one who attacked Gangadharaiah but little did he know that the latter had died. Raja hit Gangadharaiah after confronting him inside the bush, sat on his stomach when the victim fell, and repeatedly punched him on the chest. As Gangadharaiah lost consciousness, Raja robbed him of the mobile phone and around Rs 5,000 in cash,” the police officer who took a statement from Raja explained.According to Baba, Raja had the habit of robbing victims at desolate places at night. “Though he (the accused) is a resident of Salem, he regularly visits Attibele, where his close relatives live. On the night of May 10, the accused alighted from a bus and was walking past the medical college ground when he noticed Gangadharaiah walking into the bush. Quickly, he followed the victim and attacked. The fatal blows by the accused killed the victim,” he said.“Once he recovers from the bullet injury and Salem police complete their investigation, we will bring him here and continue our investigation,” he said, adding that the case is now being treated as a murder for gain.