CHENNAI: The quiet neighbourhood of Peerkankaranai near Tambaram was shaken on Wednesday morning when a teenager found a skeleton amid a clump of bushes and panic spread. A cellphone and an identity card were spotted near it. The police now suspect the remains could be that of a man who went missing during the floods that ravaged the city in December 2015.The police said the identity card bore the name of Arun Kumar, a 24-year-old Pudukottai native, and the name of the electronic products company where he worked as an airconditioner mechanic. Arun had been staying with his friend Azar in the rented accommodation provi-ded by their employer. While Azar's decomposed body was found near Tambaram soon after the floods, Arun Kumar remained missing.The skeleton has been sent to the state forensic laboratory where experts will conduct a superimposition test on the skull and see if it matches with the photo in the identity card.As Arun had been staying in Peerkankaranai, one of the worst-affected areas during the floods that inundated vast swathes of area and left thousands homeless, his employer came in search of him. The employer initially thought Arun had gone to his native place Pudhukottai, but after his sister Surya said he had not come home, they lodged a missing complaint with the Peerkankaranai police on December 2, 2015. Investigators checked with his friends who said they had not seen him and his mobile too was not reachable.Early on Wednesday, a teenage Peerkankaranai resident went near the bush to relieve himself when he noticed the skeleton and alerted the police."It was a deserted area where residents rarely came. Otherwise, it would have been recovered long ago. Besides, Peerkankaranai was one of the areas where flood waters receded very late," said an officer.Investigators who dug up the missing complaint and called Surya who arrived and broke down after confirming the cellphone and the identity card as belong ging to her brother.The police suspect Arun and Azar were washed away while trying to escape from the gushing waters. Several residents of the area, who were stranded in their houses, were taken to safety by fire and rescue services personnel in boats, but none of them even recalled seeing Arun.

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