Bhubaneswar: Police on Saturday recovered the body of a man with his throat slit from a rented house at Unit-IV.

The deceased has been identified as Gopinath Moharana, a carpenter in his 50s.

Moharana hailed from Chandol in Bhadrak district and had lived in the rented house with his elder brother, Bhagirathi, for the past 30 years. His body was traced in his workshop in the same house with a bloodied chisel near him.

Sources said Moharana invited his cousin, Salia Sahi resident Sanatan Moharana, to his home on Saturday morning. Accordingly, Sanatan reached the house around 9am and discovered the body.

Soon after, the police deployed a scientific team to collect evidence. "We have seized the chisel and Moharana's toolkit," said a police officer.

The police said there were no other injuries on the body. "He had bloodstains on his left hand," he said.

Sources said Bhagirathi had told the police that Moharana might have felt itching in his neck and tried to scratch it with the chisel, accidentally slitting his throat. Bhagirathi said his scream could not be heard since he played the radio in his workshop.

Moharana's son, however, claimed that his father was murdered. "My father was a well-known person. I am not aware if he had any enemies, but I suspect that he was murdered. I have faith in the police that they will ascertain the reason and find the suspect," said his son, a security guard.

The police have sent the body to Capital Hospital for autopsy. "We recovered the body and started an investigation to ascertain the cause of death. We are not ruling out murder angle as well. It will shortly be established whether he has been murdered or it is a case of suicide," said Kharavela Nagar assistant commissioner of police Anup Kanungo.