“The police asked the duo to alight from the car at the border, while the daughter was allowed to pass. It was then that they decided to swim across the Cauvery and reach Mettur,” a police officer said. They embarked upon the river journey on Sunday afternoon.

After an hour, Venkatachalam managed to reach the shore on Palar area but Perumal did not surface. On receiving information, the fire and rescue personnel began a search operation on Monday and found his body later in the day.

The police were in a fix over jurisdiction issues. Information on the retrieval of the body was first given to Karnataka police, who refused to take up the case as the body was found in TN. A disagreement also ensued between Salem and Erode police.

The cops then arrived at a truce as Bargur police registered a case and the body was handed over to family members after a post mortem.