Ghaziabad, May 24 -- A 39-year-old man was killed by five of his friends following a drunken quarrel on April 27 in Modinagar, Ghaziabad, but the murder only came to light on May 21 when his remains were discovered near his home, police said on Friday, adding that the accused had been arrested. The victim, Umashankar Kumar, a resident of Sikri Kalan, had not returned home since April 27, but his family did not report him missing until May 20, as he frequently stayed away from home for extended periods and did not use a mobile phone. "On May 20, we received a missing complaint from Dushyant Kumar Sharma, alleging that his brother Umashankar was missing. On May 21, while his family members were searching for him, they found skeletal remains in an isolated area two kilometres away from their home and alerted us. The bones were broken and scattered by wild animals," said Gyan Prakash Rai, assistant commissioner of police, Modinagar. "The family members identified the victim after they found a piece of his T-shirt. We then found in our investigation that Umashankar was last seen with his five neighbourhood friends on April 27. He did not use a mobile phone, so his last location could not be traced," he added. However, police are verifying the identity of the remains through DNA testing. The victim was involved in the flex banner-making business with his five neighbourhood friends: Neeraj Saini (33), Ajay Kumar (29), Pankaj Saini (19), Manoj Saini (22), and Gaurav Saini (20), police said. The police arrested all of them. "During interrogation, the accused revealed that on April 27, they consumed alcohol with Umashankar at a roadside eatery. Later, when three more friends joined them with additional liquor, they moved to a secluded spot. During that time, a local resident saw them together," said ACP Rai, adding that a dispute broke out between them and Umashankar, who was drunk, had verbally insulted his five friends. The issue escalated and one of the accused strangled Umashankar with a scarf while the others held him down by holding his limbs, police said. "Believing him to be dead, they left his body in the bushes and fled. Two days later, they returned to the spot, poured diesel on the remains, and burned them to destroy evidence," added the ACP. "We are waiting for DNA test results to confirm Umashankar's identity. His wife died six years ago, and he had two children. As he rarely visited home, his family assumed he would return, which is why they did not approach us with a missing complaint until May 20," said ACP Rai. Modinagar police registered a case of murder and disappearance of evidence under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on May 23....