HYDERABAD: A Telangana secretariat employee who was supposedly dead in a road accident has turned out to be a key murder implicated who faked his own death to claim Rs 6 crore in insurance coverage payments, police said.

M Dharma Naik, an assistant area officer, was arrested in Pune on Tuesday.On January 9, a milk supplier had actually noticed a vehicle swallowed up in flames at Venkatapur, in Medak, and alerted village seniors.

Police suspected the car may have slipped into the roadside gorge and ignited, resulting in the drivers death.

The mishap theory was junked when the authorities recovered a gas bottle and a bag including clothing and Naiks ID card - all intact - near the charred car.

Barring a part of a limb, the body was entirely burnt.Police suspect Naik made his family declare the body after recognizing it on the basis of a birth mark on the leg.

The last rites were carried out after an autopsy, cops said.Sources said the charred body in Naiks car might be that of a hired driver.Police inspected CCTV video footage at different points in addition to active call data near the criminal activity scene to absolutely no in on those accompanying Naik at Venkatapur.

Visuals tape-recorded a day after the murder showed a male bearing a striking similarity to Naik.

We diverted around to the theory that the deceased could be another person, not Naik.

We are examining whether a relative, too, became part of the conspiracy and misguided the police, a policeman from Medak said.

There were a number of insurance coverage in Naiks name.

He had actually bought an expensive vehicle a month prior to the event.