Karnataka man murdered in UAE, body found cut into 9 pieces inside car boot in Sharjah
A 14-year resident of Sharjah, Alwin Prakash Kunder, was murdered and his body cut into nine pieces, according to Times of India. The remains were found inside the boot of a car in Sharjah, nearly two months after the Kundapur native went missing following his last contact with family in July. His wife, Tina Kunder, and their teenage son have not been traceable since his death, family members told reporters. Udupi police are awaiting official confirmation of the case from UAE authorities before proceeding further with a domestic investigation.
Timeline: from July disappearance to death certificate
The case surfaced publicly only in September, weeks after Kunder’s family in Kundapur, a coastal town in Udupi district, lost contact with him. What began as unexplained silence from a man who called home regularly turned into alarm when his phone started sending messages that did not sound like him. By the time the family pieced together what had happened, they were dealing with a police complaint process, a body already dismembered, and two more relatives, his wife and son, who had vanished from view.
Last contact with family before he went silent
Kunder last spoke to his family in July, according to Times of India. He had worked at Sharjah airport for 14 years and, according to relatives, kept up routine contact with home despite the distance. When that contact stopped, it did not immediately alarm the family, since gaps in communication from Gulf workers are not unusual. What followed in the days after made clear something was wrong.
Suspicious text messages from a phone he rarely used
Family members grew suspicious after receiving unusual text messages from Kunder’s phone, a device he rarely used to communicate, according to Times of India. The tone and content of the messages did not match how he normally wrote or what he typically discussed with relatives back in Kundapur. That mismatch was enough to push the family toward raising the alarm, even before they had any confirmation that something had happened to him in Sharjah.
Who was Alwin Prakash Kunder
Kunder was employed at Sharjah airport, a job he had held for 14 years. He was one of many Karnataka natives from the Kundapur and Udupi belt who have built careers in Gulf infrastructure and services over the past two decades, sending money home and returning periodically for family visits.
Fourteen years at Sharjah airport, last home visit in December
His most recent trip home was in December of last year, according to multiple reports citing family accounts. That visit, coming several months before his July disappearance, is now one of the last points of normal contact investigators and relatives can point to before things changed. Nothing in that visit, as described by family members, suggested what would follow.
How the body was discovered and identified
Kunder’s body was discovered in Sharjah, cut into nine pieces, according to Times of India. The remains were found in the boot of a car, a detail confirmed across reports on the case. The dismemberment and the way the body was concealed pointed investigators toward a deliberate attempt to prevent identification or delay discovery, though the specifics of how UAE authorities eventually identified the remains as Kunder’s have not been detailed in available reporting.
Death certificate issued, family left to file complaints
Following the discovery, Kunder’s family received a death certificate, according to Times of India. That document confirmed what relatives had feared since the strange text messages began, but it also left them to navigate an unfamiliar and difficult process from India: filing complaints with local police, seeking information from UAE channels, and trying to establish contact with the two people who might have known what happened, Kunder’s wife and son. Nearly two months passed between his disappearance and these details becoming public, according to Times of India, a gap that has drawn attention to how long it took for the case to surface even after the death certificate was issued.
Wife Tina and teenage son missing since the killing
Tina Kunder, also from Udupi and reportedly employed as a school teacher, has been untraceable since her husband’s death, according to reports on the case. Their teenage son has also not been located. Some reports have raised the possibility that the two may have left the UAE following Kunder’s killing, though this has not been officially confirmed by authorities on either side. The disappearance of the two family members most likely to have information about what happened to Kunder has become a central complication in the case, both for investigators and for relatives in Kundapur trying to understand the sequence of events.
What Udupi police and family members are saying
Family members have described the case to reporters as a murder, pointing to the dismemberment of the body and the inability to reach Tina and her son as evidence that something beyond an accident or natural death took place. Udupi police have taken up complaints from the family but have stopped short of confirming details of the crime independently, saying they are waiting for official word from the relevant UAE authorities before characterizing the case further. That distinction, between what relatives believe happened and what Indian police can confirm through official channels, has shaped how the case has been reported so far.
Where the investigation stands now
The investigation currently sits at the intersection of two jurisdictions: UAE authorities, who would have handled the discovery of the body in Sharjah and any local criminal proceedings, and Udupi police in Karnataka, who are handling the family’s complaints and trying to establish contact with Tina and her son. Without confirmation from Sharjah authorities, Udupi police have limited ability to independently verify the circumstances of Kunder’s death, even though the death certificate has already been issued to the family.
Udupi police awaiting official confirmation from UAE authorities
Udupi police have said they are awaiting official confirmation of the incident from the relevant authorities in the UAE, according to Times of India. This step is necessary before Indian police can formally classify the case and pursue any cross-border cooperation on locating Tina Kunder and her son. The delay in confirmation, layered on top of the nearly two-month gap between Kunder’s disappearance and the emergence of details about his murder, has left the family with a death certificate but few answers about accountability.
What happens next for the family in Kundapur
For Kunder’s relatives in Kundapur, the immediate priority is locating Tina and their son, whose whereabouts remain unknown weeks after his death was confirmed. Until UAE authorities provide official confirmation of the case details to Udupi police, the family’s complaints will remain in a holding pattern, dependent on cooperation between Indian and Emirati investigative channels. The next step is confirmation from Sharjah, followed by whatever cross-border effort is required to trace two people who disappeared at the same time a man was dismembered and left in the boot of a car.
