5th person charged in connection with dead body found in Ocean County, NJ

⚫ A body was discovered in a wildlife management area in December

⚫ Authorities believe the victim had been dead since October

⚫ Four people from Indiana had been charged; now there's a fifth defendant

MANCHESTER — A New York man is the fifth person to be charged in connection with the discovery of a body in Ocean County in December.

The announcement comes about two weeks after charges were filed in the case against a group of individuals who live in Indiana.

Authorities were contacted on Dec. 14 about a body that had been located in the Greenwood Wildlife Management Area.

Detectives said the body was in a state of "advanced decomposition." The victim was later identified as Kuldeep Kumar, 35, of India.

An examination of the body found that the man had been shot multiple times in the chest, according to authorities. The manner of death was ruled to be a homicide.

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Kumar had been reported missing by family members in Ozone Park, New York, on Oct. 26. Authorities believe his suspected murder occurred on or around Oct. 22.

Following an investigation, authorities charged four individuals from Greenwood, Indiana in connection with the discovery of the body.

All four — Sourav Kumar, 23, Guarav Singh, 27, Nirmal Singh, 30, and Gurdeep Singh, 22 — were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder less than a week after the discovery of the body.

Each individual was taken into custody in Indiana, where they'll stay put until their extradition into New Jersey, according to authorities.

The latest charge says Sandeep Kumar, 34, of South Ozone Park, New York, acted in concert with the other suspects in carrying out the victim's murder.

He was taken into custody on Jan. 3 and processed at the New Jersey State Police Barracks in Holmdel.

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