A bribery case involving Nara prefectural police officers took two bizarre twists Wednesday with prosecutors raiding sites that had previously been searched and the discovery of a charred body believed to be that of an officer at the center of the scandal.
The body -- believed to be that of Hidehira Nakano, 58, a police superintendent sacked over allegedly receiving bribes from the former president of a local trucking company -- was found in a burned-out car in the parking lot of a cemetery in the town of Shimoichi in the prefecture.
Sources close to the case said a blazer belonging to Nakano and a suicide note were placed on the graves of the Nakano family at the cemetery.
Earlier in the day, the Nara District Public Prosecutor's Office raided over 10 locations in connection with the case. The rare move came as prosecutors determined a previous police search of the same facilities in March was insufficient, the sources said.