Delhi: Woman’s headless, decomposed body found in sewer in Munirka

The police team found in the sewer a black polybag with the woman’s headless body with a tattoo of a leaf on the lower side of her neck.

A highly decomposed headless body of an unidentified woman stuffed in a plastic bag was found inside a sewer of a four-storeyed building in south Delhi’s Munirka on Friday night, police said on Saturday.

The police team found in the sewer a black polybag with the woman’s headless body with a tattoo of a leaf on the lower side of her neck. (File photo)

The building from which the body was recovered is owned by a local resident who lives with his family in an adjacent house. The building has 31 rooms, all rented out to students and working youths mostly from northeastern states.

Nupur Prasad, additional deputy commissioner of police (south), said the crime came to light around 8pm when some occupants of the building complained about a foul smell on the ground floor. They soon figured out that the smell was coming from the sewer tank.

One of the locals called the police control room to inform the police about the foul smell. The building owner was also alerted about it. A police team reached the building and removed the lid of the sewer where they found a black polybag with the woman’s headless body.

“The body was decomposed in such a way that it initially became difficult to establish whether it was a male or a female body,” a senior police officer said.

A tattoo of a leaf was found on the lower side of her neck by the police.

A case of murder has been registered at the Vasant Vihar police station against unknown persons.

“Our first priority is to establish the identity of the woman. The motive behind the murder and the identity of the killers can be ascertained only after we know who the woman was,” the officer added.

A preliminary probe into the case revealed that out of the 31 rooms in the building, four were locked for the past few days. Investigators are preparing a list of the tenants living in the building and nearby houses to find those missing for the last 10 days.

“Apart from the occupants of the four rooms, we will also find the whereabouts of other women missing from the locality. Family members of all such women will be contacted,” the officer said.

The building owner and his sons are also under scanner.