DNA match found between severed feet and foetus recovered in Chandigarh’s Sector 17

In long-drawn investigations into a major incident of crime after the Covid-19 lockdown, police have so far scanned all the records of pregnant women in the city and reached a dead end

DNA profiles of a pair of severed human feet and a foetus discovered in bushes along a cycle track near the busy Press light point in Sector 17 five months ago, have matched, reports say.

Police examining a human foot discovered in sector 17 on June 23, 2020. (HT File Photo)

Police say these are from the same body. In long-drawn investigations into a major incident of crime after the Covid-19 lockdown, police have so far scanned all the records of pregnant women in the city and reached a dead end.

Three-month records of pregnant women from various hospitals had been sought by police to identify the person whose feet had been severed, but no leads have been established.

Information shared with Haryana and Punjab too did not yield any results, with investigation delays attributed to skeleton staff in offices and police stations due Covid-19.

On June 23, Ajit Kishori, a manager at the State Bank of India (SBI)’s local head office in Sector 17 was walking on the cycle tracks after lunch when he spotted a detached human foot wrapped in a newspaper. Police reached the spot on receiving his call and recovered another foot as well as a foetus close by.

Postmortem had revealed that the feet were that of a woman severed from the body after death while the eight-month foetus had died due to haemorrhagic shock (extreme blood loss due to broken blood vessels). It also had injury marks around the head and neck.