The body of a 42-year-old city businessman who had been missing since Tuesday last week was found floating in the Hooghly on Sunday afternoon. His family identified the body on Monday.

Bhupal Mukherjee, a resident of BB Ganguly Street, had last contacted wife Sonia early on June 30. He apparently told her that he was near the Bank of India crossing, near their home.

As Mukherjee, who ran a security agency and several other businesses, did not return home, Sonia lodged a missing diary the next morning.

Sonia apparently told the police that a friend of her husband had come to return his phone. She then requested the police to turn the missing diary into a kidnapping case against the friend.

“The friend said Mukherjee had called him around 3am on June 30 and asked him to accompany him on his motorcycle to Ahiritola Ghat. He said Mukherjee had handed his phone to him because his wife was calling repeatedly,” an officer said. “The man said Mukherjee was missing when he returned after relieving himself.”

The preliminary post-mortem report suggests drowning as the cause of death, sources said.

No one has yet been arrested in the case.