OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police have revealed that a 61-year-old man arrested for pushing a male acquaintance into a river and killing him withdrew cash from the victim’s account after the incident.
According to police, Tsukasa Inoue, of no known occupation, is alleged to have fatally pushed Akihiro Ikeda, 63, into the Yamato River, which flows through Kashiwara City, around December 4 of last year, reports Mainichi Broadcasting System (Sep. 29).
The body of Ikeda was found on December 15. The cause of death was drowning, police said.
On September 27, police accused Inoue, a resident of Tondabayashi City, of murder. In response to questioning, the suspect denies the charges.
In the latest development, police have learned that Inoue withdrew approximately 160,000 yen from Ikeda’s account about 10 days after his death. hen questioned he explained that he had “held the cash card and obtained his consent.”
7 kilograms of dumbbells and weights
Inoue and Ikeda are believed to have gotten to know each other about three decades ago.
Initially, police suspected that Ikeda had committed suicide. However, they were unable to discover a motive for doing so.
Upon the discovery of his body, Ikeda was carrying a backpack with a total of 7 kilograms of dumbbells and weights. Ikeda’s bicycle was also found about 500 meters upstream of his body.
During the investigation, police learned that Inoue had purchased the dumbbells and weights on December 3. Inoue was the beneficiary of Ikeda’s life insurance. About one month before the incident, Inoue inquired about how to receive a payout on the policy.
Police suspect that the aim of the suspect was to collecting the insurance money.
“I met him while watching baseball games over 30 years ago”
In an interview with NHK last month, before his arrest, Inoue denied any involvement in the crime.
When asked about his connection with Ikeda, the suspect said, “I met him while watching baseball games over 30 years ago, and for over 10 years I’ve been managing his finances and taking care of his personal needs.”
The man was found dead on December 15, 2023. Inoue says he visited the riverbed near the scene with the man around December 4.
He explained, “[Ikeda] tended to stay shut up in his house, so I gave him exercise equipment such as dumbbells to help him build up his muscles, and we worked out together on the riverbed.”
He then said, “I went home early, so I don’t know what happened after that, and I found out about his death when the police contacted me. I didn’t kill him.”
