Kanpur, Nov 16 (IANS): A body of a 35-year-old farmer was found hanging from a Babool tree in the Dalelpur village under Bidhnu police circle of the district, police said on Tuesday.

The farmer had gone to irrigate his fields on Sunday and did not return home.

Panic gripped the village when the body was found on Monday. As the news spread, locals thronged the spot and alerted his family and police.

The police immediately called the forensic team which collected evidence from the spot. The body was sent for post-mortem.

The victim has been identified as Naresh Kumar.

His wife, Mithilesh said that she had last spoken to her husband at around 10 p.m. on Sunday, when he had told her that he will return home after irrigating the land by next morning.

Family members have alleged that Naresh was murdered and his body was hung on the tree to make it look like suicide.

Besides injury marks on the body and the left eye, a blood-stained shirt and a shawl were found lying at a distance of nearly 50-meters from the spot. His slippers were found lying under the tree.

The victim's wife said that the shirt from which the body was found hanging does not belong to her husband.

Circle officer Ghatampur Sushil Kumar Dwivedi said that the matter is being investigated. The situation will be clear only after the post-mortem report, he added.