Businessman found dead in Thousand Islands

JAKARTA (JP): Officers of the Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands) Police subprecinct off the North Jakarta coast excavated the body of a business executive from a graveyard at the remote island of Pulau Tikus on Wednesday, a policeman said.

An officer from the subprecinct's patrol unit, Sgt. Maj. Juli Prayitno, told reporters at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital that the corpse of Supriyono, 38, director of PT Wahyu Kencana Tirta contractor firm, was buried by local residents on Saturday but reported the case to the police three days later.

He quoted the Pulau Tikus residents as saying that they found the dead body floating in the sea and decided to bury the corpse immediately.

"On Tuesday, the third day after his burial, one of the residents arrived at our office and reported finding the body," said Juli, who along with several colleagues brought the corpse to the Cipto hospital in Central Jakarta for post-mortem examination.

According to him, the police could understand the failure of the residents to immediately report the case to the officers due to the lack of transportation and communication facilities at the island.

"The boat ride from our office to the island, which is about three nautical miles away, took at least six hours per trip," officer Juli said.

Juli said that identification of the body was based on a document found by the residents in his wallet.

"They also found Rp 500,000 in the wallet," the officer explained.

The residents told the officers that they used the money to pay for proper burial of the body. The locals, for example, bathed the corpse.

Police proceeded to the address found on the body on Tuesday evening in Jatimulya subdistrict, Tambun in Bekasi where they met and notified Supriyono's wife and their two daughters.

Upon the arrival of the remains at the Cipto hospital on Wednesday afternoon, Supriyono's grieving wife Yoyoh Yohana, her two daughters and other family members, who were already at the hospital, confirmed the identity and immediately collected the corpse.

According to officer Juli, the police are still in the dark but have detained a Tangerang psychic for further questioning about the death of the businessman.

"The victim's wife said that her husband told her on Thursday that he was going to see the psychic (identified by police only as H) in Serpong, Tangerang.

This man had been the victim's spiritual guide for quite a long time," Juli said.

But, he said, none of Supriyono's relatives knew his mission to the Kepulauan Seribu, a popular week-end destination for wealthy Jakartans.

During preliminary questioning, the psychic told police that he was with Supriyono on that day and, using the victim's Daihatsu Feroza, they drove around the Kuningan area in South Jakarta.

"The victim later dropped the psychic at Grogol area (in West Jakarta) in the evening after which H returned home in a taxi," Juli quoted H as saying.

While waiting for the final forensic report to determine the time and cause of Supriyono's death, officers are searching for his vehicle. (06)