‘Dead’ woman appears before cops in Patiala after family performs last rites

A murder mystery turned murkier on Thursday as the woman believed to have been killed appeared along with her male friend before police in Patiala.

The fresh development in the case left the cops clueless about the identification of the dead woman and the murderers.

On December 12, the body of an unidentified woman was found on the Patiala-Sangrur southern bypass in the city. Two days later, a Patiala-based family identified the body as of their daughter, Naina Rani, who is married in a village of Chamkaur Sahib subdivision in Rupnagar district.

The police handed over the body to the family, which performed her last rites.

The family had claimed that Naina had eloped with her paramour from her in-laws’ village. They also alleged that her paramour, who is a truck driver, might have killed her.

Sadar police station SHO Jaswinder Singh Tiwana said they received information on Wednesday from the Rupnagar police that Naina, along with her paramour, had returned to Chamkaur Sahib.

Case of mistaken identity, say police

“When the cops questioned Naina’s parents in Patiala, they claimed that since the face of the dead woman was mutilated, they identified the body on the basis of her bangles and other jewellery.Even Naina’s husband was accompanying them at that time,” the SHO said.

He added that the police had a written record of all the proceedings, but it appears to be a case of mistaken identity.

“We will now identify the dead woman from her DNA and fingerprint samples. We had gathered samples of her hair and teeth during autopsy,” the SHO said.

The incident came to light when Jiwan Singh, a farmer of Ghalori village, spotted a gunny bag near the bypass when he had gone to his fields.

The police said the victim was strangulated as there were marks on her neck. She was also attacked with sharp-edged weapons.

“It appears that the crime was committed at some other place and the body was dumped here around two days ago,” the cops said.The police have not recovered any identity proof or mobile phone of the victim.

“We have circulated the dead body’s photograph with details of identification marks to all police stations in the state so that she can be identified. Moreover, we are gathering data about the women who had gone missing in the state recently,” the SHO said.

Police said, a case has been registered gainst “unidentified persons” under Section 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).