A retired Bali police officer was found dead, blood pooled around him and stab wounds on his body, after he was reported missing for four days.
The body of I Made Suanda, former East Denpasar Police sub-inspector was discovered in a rented house in Ubung Kaja, Denpasar on Tuesday morning.
Police suspect that the 58-year-old retired cop was murdered after a car-buying transaction went bad. Suanda had disappeared after he was meant to sell a Honda Jazz, say police.
The man sold the Jazz for IDR158 million (US$11,635) but then the car changed hands several times, eventually ending up at a showroom in Tabanan, Bali. The car is now in police custody as evidence. It’s alleged that a “car fraud gang,” is responsible for Suanda’s death, according to Tribun Bali.
“That is what we’re still trying to unravel, the car fraud plot. We are continuing to coordinate with Denpasar Police for arrests. We are also exploring how the car could actually make it to a showroom in Tabanan,” Badung Police Chief Supt. Yudith Satriya Hananta told Tribun Bali on Tuesday.
Suanda’s body was transferred to Denpasar’s Sanglah Hospital for an external forensic examination, where doctors found stab wounds on the forehead and left leg as well as maggots infesting the corpse.
According to forensics, the victim likely died the day he was reported missing, on Dec. 15, based on the body’s condition, as well as the size of the maggots.
An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday, but results have not yet been made public. Following the autopsy, it should be more clear if Suanda’s death was the work of multiple people or just one perpetrator, says forensics.
The last big story involving a murdered cop in Bali was the death of Wayan Sudarsa, who was found dead, brutally battered on Kuta Beach on Aug. 17, 2016. Briton David Taylor and Australian Sara Connor were convicted earlier this year in March, sentenced to six years and four years, respectively, in Bali prison.
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