Body Believed to Be Aleksandar Nešović Found in Buried Barrel in Inđija A buried barrel in a field near Inđija has turned a routine mafia-style disappearance into a full-blown political stress test for Serbia’s institutions.

On May 12, Aleksandar Nešović — known as Baja and long linked to underworld circles — allegedly walked into Belgrade’s restaurant “27” in Senjak for a meeting with then–Belgrade police chief Veselin Milić and rival Saša Vuković “Boske.” He reportedly left his security behind and never came out alive. Phone data later placed the devices of almost all key actors between the Hippodrome and Topčider cemetery that night, with Nešović’s phone registering movement toward Šimanovci before its signal vanished at 2:45 a.m., fueling suspicions the body was moved several times.

Days of searching ended on May 21 in the Inđija area. Police and forensic teams dug up a metal barrel containing a body believed to be Nešović’s, first reported as “BAJA’S BODY FOUND IN BURIED BARREL!” Early leaks said the corpse was crouched, encased in concrete and showed traces of burning, suggesting the killers tried to destroy evidence. One lurid account called it a “MAFIA MESSAGE,” describing a body “partially burned, ‘halfway,’ before they put it in the barrel.”

Forensics then homed in on a gruesome but banal clue: branded boxer shorts matching what Nešović’s wife said he wore the day he disappeared, now logged as a formal identification lead. Prosecutors ordered 70 expert examinations, seized 24 phones, computers, storage devices and vehicles, and initiated multiple DNA and gunpowder-residue tests tied to the restaurant, cars and suspects.

President Aleksandar Vučić seized the airwaves the same evening. On RTS he said the body had been burned “so there would be less blood” and then prepared for concrete in a garage, adding DNA would almost certainly confirm it was Nešović — “99 percent” sure. Appearing in the show “Thursday at 9,” he praised the gendarmerie for locating the barrel, branded the perpetrators “monsters,” and blasted “dirty badges” inside the force, vowing the state would “deal with dirty badges” and purge corrupt officers.

Pro‑government tabloids amplified the narrative of a ruthless gang neutralized by a decisive state: exclusive photos from the barrel site, breathless headlines that “the body believed to be Aleksandar Nešović WAS POURED WITH CONCRETE,” and frame‑ups of the case as proof that the system is finally turning on its own — including a former Belgrade police chief now behind bars.

Opposition‑leaning daily Danas, while quoting much of Vučić’s horrific description, underscored his caution over directly tying Milić to the murder and highlighted his attack on “all these liars” who, he claimed, misled the public with conspiracy theories. The subtext: this is not just a mafia clean‑up, but a propaganda battlefield over who controls the story of a body in a barrel.