Muscat: A highly decomposed body of a young construction worker was found on Sunday in Abu Abu Ali area near Musanah, about 100-km north to Muscat.

“There was unbearable foul smell coming from his room and the matter was reported by the people living nearby to the police,” a social worker told Gulf News on the condition of anonymity.

He added that the deceased, Binu Kumar (28) from Pathanamthitta district in the southern Indian state of Kerala, was working with a local company for more than five years. “He was currently working for his sponsor’s building,” he added.

He said people known to Binu Kumar suspected foul play. “They say there was no reason for him to commit suicide,” a friend of the dead said.

According to other witnesses, there were no injury marks on his body, which was in bad condition. “It appears that he died two-three days ago,” he said.

The social worker said the police came with chemical analysis experts and finger printing team. “After going through the entire room for hours, the team left and the body was transferred to a nearby hospital,” the social worker said.

Meanwhile, it required relentless efforts of social workers to get a release letter for an accident victim’s body to be sent home. “Normally it takes three to four days, but twenty-nine-year-old V.S.Renish’s body was lying in the mortuary for over two weeks.

The deceased was on a visit visa and met with a fatal accident in Ibri on August 26. The accident victim had worked in Ibri for some years but last year left and returned on a family visit visa arranged by his friends — Renjith and Jayaram.

“It is surprising how the two arranged for a family visit visa for Renish although he had no blood relations with either of them,” wondered P. M. Jabir, social welfare secretary of the Indian Social Club.

The two had employed Renish for bootlegging business. “At the time of the accident the police found liquor in his car,” Jabir said.

The police then waited for the people who had sponsored him to come back to Oman.

Jabir then contacted Dr. Rajendran Nair of Ibri. “The doctor was extremely helpful in getting the passport [which was in the car held by the police] and the death notification,” he said

Vijayan of Kairali Ibri liaised from Ibri to send the body to Muscat. “The body is now in Muscat Mortuary and will be airlifted to either Kochi or Trivandrum tomorrow [today]” Jabir revealed.