Police suspect foul play in alleged suicide involving mobile money operator

Correspondence from Eastern Region

Police in Somanya in the Eastern Region suspect foul play after the body of a man who was seen early in the morning was later discovered hanging from a tree on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.

The police are investigating the mystery surrounding the death of the 25-year-old man at Akwetemam, a suburb of Somanya who was last seen about an hour earlier but was found hanging from the branch of a teak tree at 9:30am.

A passer-by spotted the body in an isolated bushy portion of the community and raised an alarm, drawing the attention of many residents to the scene.

The lifeless body was discovered in a sitting position with his feet on the ground and his buttocks hanging about 1 foot above the ground.

The deceased, identified as Kpobi Aaron was believed to have been murdered and later hanged on a rope to create the impression that he committed suicide.

He was found with a polythene around the neck with his legs touching the ground.

The police have ruled out suicide and suspect foul play as the tragedy brought a large crowd to the scene who wanted to catch a glimpse of the body.

Personnel from the Somanya District Police Command were there to examine the body after they proceeded to the scene when they received information about the incident.

Information gathered by GhanaWeb indicated that the late Kpobi Aaron’s employee, one Rahwanji Zohherr, a 34-year-old businessman and resident of Djaba Road, a suburb of Somanya reported to police that he had received information that someone, who turned out to be his employee had hanged himself in a nearby bush.

Police together with the complainant proceeded to the scene and saw the deceased hanged onto a branch of the teak tree with a white polythene bag on his neck, tied to a branch of the tree.

Upon careful inspection, it was discovered that the tongue of the deceased had protruded with foaming in his mouth, no marks of violence were however seen on the lifeless body.

The body was taken and deposited at the Yilo Krobo District Hospital morgue for preservation and autopsy, after he was clinically pronounced dead by Dr. Adu Bimpong Michael, Medical Officer of the hospital.

Police sources however told GhanaWeb that “police will investigate the death thoroughly since foul play is suspected looking at the state and position of the deceased at the scene.”

The police have commenced investigations into the incident to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of the young man.

Kpobi Aaron’s employer who is the complainant in the case and an eyewitness said only the sandals of the deceased were found at the scene when he got to there.

Rahwanji Zohherr disclosed that a customer called him around 8am with the complaint that he couldn’t reach his Aaron who asked him to return the following morning for an amount of Ghc5,000 being the balance of a mobile money transaction conducted the previous day.

Unable to reach the deceased after several attempts, he said he was later informed that someone had been found hanging from a tree at nearby Akwetemam and he immediately proceeded to the scene only for him to realize that the person in question was his employee.

According to him, he had been working with the deceased for the past six months and described him as a “respectful and cool” person.

Assembly man for Odave Electoral Area who doubles as Presiding Member for the Yilo Krobo District Assembly, Hon Robert Agede when contacted said he was at a workshop in Accra when he was called and informed about the incident and therefore could not comment on the situation.