The prime accused in the murder of a farmer following a tiff over damage caused to a smartphone in Malda’s Kaliachak was found hanging on Thursday morning.

The family members of Bakkas Mollah, who was found hanging in Sujapur, have alleged the body bore injury marks which indicate he was beaten to death and then hanged from a tree to make it appear like a suicide.

Police are waiting for post-mortem report to know the cause of the death.

Bakkas and his relatives had allegedly beaten to death their neighbour Alimul Sheikh, 30, on February 22.

His son and Bakkas’s grandson had caught hold of a smartphone and the device got damaged while the duo were playing with it. This led to an altercation between the two families and later at night, Mollah and his family members allegedly killed Alimul.

The police searched for Bakkas, who is around 60-years-old, but could not find him. On Thursday, his body was found at a nearby orchard.