Bhubaneswar, Nov. 9: A day after the body of 45-year-old co-owner of a gas agency was found, the police are yet to find a lead in the case.

The body of Pramod Routray was recovered from a water body near Deras within the jurisdiction of Chandaka police station on the city outskirts.

Cops have found a rope near the spot along with a few beer bottles.

They suspect that the goons might have strangulated Routray with the help of the rope and later dumped the body in the water body.

“A few marks have been around his neck. We have also found marks of car tyres at the spot. So we guess that the goons might have brought the body in a car and then dumped it in the water body,” said a police official.

Though prima-facie evidence suggests that Routray was strangulated, the police are yet to ascertain the motive behind the crime.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that Routray was killed at a different place and later his body was dumped in the water body,” said a police official.

For the past seven years, Routray has been a partner of a gas agency in Laxmisagar. He also lives in this area.

The police said that Routray had left his house on Friday saying that he was going to attend a feast on the occasion of Chhadkhai.

“However, his family members are not aware who accompanied him on that day,” said a police official. He was involved in money lending business.

“Business rivalry could have played a role in the murder. We are investigating the case to ascertain the circumstances in which he landed at Chandaka,” said a police official.

This is the second case of murder on the city outskirts this week and in both the cases the police are yet to make any breakthrough.

In the first case, a mutilated head of a man was found near Daya river under Dhauli police jurisdiction on November 4.

A chopped hand was also found in the same area on November 3. The police said the head bore several injury marks. “The head and the face were mutilated deliberately to suppress the identity of the deceased. The face was cut several times with sharp weapons. It is almost impossible to identify the man,” said a police official.

However, the police are yet to ascertain the identity of the deceased.

Though the cops suspect that the head was that of a 25-year-old man who had gone missing from Khandagiri on November 1, his family members had failed to identify him.

“It seems that the entire police force is busy collecting fines. However, when it comes to crime control, the cops have failed to do its duty,” said a resident. After the hand was recovered residents had complained that despite their information, the cops reached the spot quite late.

On the other hand, deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi said investigation in both the cases was on.

“We will conduct a DNA test to ascertain the identity of the deceased whose mutilated body was found,” said Bhoi.