Kerala Police finds year-old body of woman in plastic barrel

Locals said that the barrel was found from a water body in Kumbala during a dredging operation.

In what’s believed to be a first of its kind incident, the Kerala Police on Monday found a woman’s body sealed in a plastic barrel filled with concrete near here.

A worker paints empty barrels loaded onto a truck at a roadside in Kochi, India June 29, 2017.(REUTERS)

According to Kochi City Police Commissioner MP Dinesh, who was present when the plastic barrel was broken open, bones were recovered from the barrel. But, it was from the hair and a silver anklet that the body was initially identified to be a woman’s.

“From preliminary findings, it seems the body is more than a year old,” said Dinesh.

Locals said that the barrel was found from a water body in Kumbala near here during a dredging operation.

On Monday morning, people became suspicious to find ants covering the entire barrel, and subsequently, it was broken open in the presence of the police.

As the concrete filling was removed, bones was found and soon the police asked for an autopsy to be done by the police surgeon.

A case has been registered and the police have begun a probe.