A 40-year-old man was found murdered on Sunday morning at the tourist hotspot of Dimna Lake, which buzzes with people at this time of the year.

The victim was a destitute and made a living by begging at the picnic spot near the steel city, which witnesses footfall of more than 2,000 people every day around the time of New Year.

The murder shocked the scores of people who had come from the steel city and from as far away as Bengal on the last Sunday of the outgoing year to bask in the winter sun.

A few autorickshaw drivers found the body, identified as that of Guru, wrapped in a blanket around 8am.

The drivers informed the police.

The victim had injury marks on the head, suggesting that the assailants had bludgeoned him to death in his sleep in the chilly night.

“The man has been identified as Guru, who is from Haryana,” said Kajal Kumar Dubey, officer in-charge (OC) of Bodam police station which has jurisdiction the over the area.

“We found his head ruptured as if hit by a boulder, but it is yet to be established who killed the man and why,” the OC added.

He added that people such as autorickshaw drivers and roadside eatery owners said Guru lived in the Dimna lake area for the past one decade and made

do with alms given by those who come to the picnic spot.

“Last night, he was seen around the lake till 10pm. He was found in one of the corners of the dam wrapped in a blanket around 8am, a time unusual for a destitute to be sleeping. When one of the drivers removed the blanket, he found blood oozing out of the man’s head. They then informed the police. Upon reaching, we found him dead. It’s a murder,” Dubey said.

He said by the time the police reached, several picnickers had arrived at the spot and were also watching the police with curiosity.

The body has been to MGM Medical College mortuary for post-mortem. A case under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC has been registered.