Originally published October 7, 2009
A MURDER investigation has begun after a man’s body was found in Monak, believed to be that of a missing Mildura man, who disappeared more than two weeks ago.
The body — yet to be identified — was discovered in grass at the roadside of Old Euston Road, six kilometres from Mildura.
Police believe the body is missing Mildura man Pardeep Kumar, 33, who mysteriously vanished from Mildura after a business meeting on Tuesday, September 22.
Police confirmed the body was a male aged in his mid-thirties.
Specialist forensic teams investigated the scene yesterday, with homicide squad detectives also travelling from Broken Hill to lead the murder investigation.
Police held a press conference at 10am yesterday outside Mildura Library, where a concerned friend of Mr Kumar spoke of her “deep sorrow” over his disappearance.
Melbourne Police homicide squad detective senior sergeant Ron Iddles said Mr Kumar, who went missing following a business meeting last month, was assumed to have met his death.
Det. Sen. Sgt Iddles said it had also appeared the Indian harvesting contractor could have been involved in some underhanded business practices toward his — mostly Indian — workers.
“To some extent I would have to say that he exploited them,” Det. Iddles said.
“He was making substantial money from his rent, his weekly rent was around $150 but he was potentially collecting $700 a week from rent, with five or six of them playing to sleep on the floor,” he said.
“What he was being paid by growers to pick fruit say per bin is not what he paid the people who worked for him.
“He was collecting $5 to $8 per bin because he thought he was entitled to it as he found them the work.
“I think while they liked him they may not have realised that this was not a good deal by Australian standards … so to some extent sadly he exploited his own.”
Det. Iddles said circumstances indicated that it was “more than likely” that Mr Kumar was now deceased.
Mildura Police were alerted to Mr Kumar’s disappearance after friends reported that he had failed to return home following a business meeting at the Mildura Library on Tuesday, September 22.
“He told some of the people that work with him that he was coming to meet a new person here to arrange a new contract,” Det. Iddles said.
“We know that he came here to meet someone, this was going to be what he told people ‘a good deal’ for him and sadly I think he has met with foul play.”
Police said Mr Kumar’s mobile phone had shown no activity since the day he disappeared and that he hadn’t accessed his bank accounts or spoken to anyone since that time.
The missing person case was upgraded to a murder investigation with Melbourne detectives to remain in Mildura for at least the next week.
Police said they were looking at all avenues of investigation, including foul-play from business associates, who may have been disgruntled.
“He was well-liked and the majority of people thought that he was a very gentle caring person,” Det. Iddles said.
“But there is no doubt that he wanted to purchase a business and wanted to make reasonable amounts of money,” he said.
“So that’s definitely one avenue we have to look at.”
Two days after he vanished, one of Mr Kumar’s workers spotted his dark navy 2000 Holden Commodore parked at the Mildura Railway Station on Seventh Street.
Police found Mr Kumar’s wallet and keys inside the unlocked car.
“We know he was at the library and he did meet someone,” Det. Iddles said.
“We have information and we have a witness who saw him talking to other Indians.
“We don’t know if they are the people he was meeting in relation to the contract but he left the library sometime after 5.15pm in his car,” he said.
“We know the car was there (at Mildura Railway Station) at 8am on Thursday morning, we can’t say how long it had been there, no one has seen it there prior to that.”
