Four Indiana men were arrested last week and accused of murdering a man whose body was found earlier this month in the woods of Ocean County, authorities said.
The man, identified Sunday as Kuldeep Kumar, 35, of India, was reported missing Oct. 26 by family members in Ozone Park, New York. His body was discovered Dec. 14 in a state of advanced decomposition in the Greenwood Wildlife Management Area in Manchester, according to a release from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
The following day, the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Kumar died from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and his death was ruled a homicide, the office said.
An investigation was launched, and detectives determined that Sourav Kumar, 23, Guarav Singh, 27, Nirmal Singh, 30, and 22-year-old Gurdeep Singh, all of Greenwood, Indiana, worked together to carry out the murder, officials said.
The four men were arrested Friday in their hometown and taken to Johnson County Jail in Franklin, Indiana, where they will remain pending their extradition to New Jersey, investigators said. They were each charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
No other information was released Sunday, and it was unclear how the men knew each other or the victim.
The investigative efforts leading to the arrest of these defendants were nothing short of outstanding, and the teamwork exhibited by all the participating agencies truly exemplifies the best in law enforcement, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said in a statement.
Collaborating with our law enforcement partners, particularly the FBI and New Jersey State Police, led to the identification of our victim and the swift apprehension of these defendants in Indiana.