By IANS,
Chennai: Tallying the prints of three fingers, police Monday confirmed that the highly decomposed body recovered from a suburban lake here Feb 13 is that of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader W.R. Varadarajan.
On Sunday Varadarajan’s foster son could not identify the body as it was in a highly decomposed state.
Later, Varadarajan’s wife and other family members identified the body.
According to city Police Commissioner T. Rajendran, going by the outer and inner wear on it, the body was suspected to be that of Varadarajan’s.
Speaking to IANS S. Noor Mohamed, member of the CPI-M State Secretariat, said: “We are satisfied with the finger print test report. We are not demanding any more tests. We are planning to hold the funeral Tuesday evening.”
According to him the party will take the body from the mortuary of the Government Royapettah Hospital and place it at the party headquarters here for public homage.
“After 3 p.m. the body will be taken to Kannamapettai crematorium,” he said.
Speaking to IANS, K. Thyagarajan, superintendent of the Government Royapettah Hospital, said: “We will release the body once the police claim the same. The police informed us that the finger prints tally.”
According to him, the autopsy was conducted Monday afternoon and samples for DNA test were taken.
Varadarajan went missing Feb 11. He left behind an unsigned note that his body be donated for medical research, and his laptops and books to the CPI-M’s publication “Theekathir”, and the balance in his two bank accounts to the party.
As the body is in a decomposed state, Varadarajan’s organs could not be harvested nor can his body be used to medical research though this was his last wish.
Varadarajan, 64, was a trade union leader and a former legislator. He was stripped of central committee membership of the CPI-M and all party posts earlier this month.
Varadarajan, a qualified chartered accountant, quit his Reserve Bank of India (RBI) job, attracted by the communist ideology.
He was elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly in 1989 from Villivakkam constituency.