Hyderabad: Hyderabad police identified the skeletal remains of a man missing since 2015 after an old mobile phone found at the scene displayed 84 missed calls from family and acquaintances.
The remains were discovered Monday inside a derelict house in Nampally market, after local boys playing cricket jumped a compound wall to retrieve a ball and noticed a foul stench. One boy entered the overgrown premises and found the skeleton near the kitchen. He recorded a video and circulated it via WhatsApp, prompting locals to alert the police around 12:30 pm.
Southwest zone DCP Chandra Mohan visited the scene along with forensic teams. The lower portion of the remains was partially buried in mud and clothed in shorts. Investigators also recovered a dead mobile phone near the body.
ACP Asif Nagar B Kishan Kumar said the battery was recharged at a local shop, revealing 84 missed calls from May 2015. Based on contact numbers and subsequent family confirmation, the remains were identified as those of 55-year-old Ameer Khan, who had been missing for nearly a decade.
Ameer, the third son of Muneer Khan, had lived alone in the house following his father’s death in 2013. His youngest brother Shadab, who inherited the property and collected rent from the attached shops, had not entered the residence since Ameer’s disappearance in May 2015.
Police noted that the house was locked from both inside and outside. No missing person report had ever been filed. “There wasn’t much interaction with other family members,” ACP Kumar said.
Inspector T Purushotham Rao, Habeeb Nagar, confirmed the boy who found the body had been drawn to the smell from the kitchen. Ameer was unmarried and unemployed at the time of his disappearance.
Preliminary suspicion suggests death from natural causes. Habeebnagar police have registered a case and are conducting detailed inquiries.
