Muscat: A businessman was mysteriously found dead in Al Hail suburb of Muscat on Tuesday evening.

In a cruel twist of fate, the family of the deceased Indian national — V.V. Vasudevan — landed in Muscat from India minutes after one of the employees of his shop found Vasudevan's body near his Land Cruiser vehicle behind his house in Al Hail. His hands and legs were bound.

According to sources in the Royal Oman Police (ROP) investigation teams were cross-examining witnesses but no arrests have been made so far.

"The body is in the ROP hospital morgue for post mortem," Vijayan, younger brother of Vasudevan, told Gulf News. He added that another brother, a Muscat resident who was away in India, had also returned. "He also went and met the police officials," Vijayan said.

He added that Vasudevan's family had been sent back to India by the return flight to save them from the shock.

"They have settled in India and had come here for holidays," Vijayan said. The family was told that Vasudevan had left for India to attend to his mother, who had taken ill.

"We will take my brother's body back to Kerala in India for the last rites but we are waiting for the police to hand over the body," said a shell-shocked Vijayan. He said he failed to understand why anyone would kill his brother.

"My brother always avoided disputes and would give in to avoid getting into arguments," he said, adding that he cannot think of any enemy of his brother. "He was a kind-hearted, simple soul."

Cash missing

Vijayan also revealed that the cash from Vasudevan's shop, the day's collection, was missing.

"He had closed the shop and kept the cash with himself," Vijayan said, adding that it would be difficult to know how much the amount could be but his guess was three to four thousand Omani riyals (Dh38,161).

Popularly known as Vasu, the hardware and building materials trader was last seen at 10pm after he closed his shop, according Vijayan.

"In the evening, one of his employees called me to say something was wrong. When I rushed here, I saw my brother's body with his hands and legs tied," he told Gulf News, sobbing inconsolably.

Vijayan said his brother, who was 54 years old, came to Oman three decades ago and had established his business in the Al Khodh and Al Hail suburbs.

According to some eyewitnesses Vasu's neck bore marks of strangulation.

Vasudevan leaves behind his wife, two sons and two daughters.