Boys playing cricket discover woman’s decomposed body in Thane drain

A group of boys playing cricket stumbled upon the decomposed body of woman, believed to be in her 40s, in Thane on Thursday.

The Vartak Nagar police,who are investigating the case, have not yet been able to identify the victim. They have sent viscera samples to the forensic laboratory in Kalina.

The body was discovered at military ground in Shastri Nagar, Vartak Nagar in the afternoon, the police said. “The children were playing cricket when their ball rolled close to a nullah there. When one of the boys ran to fetch the ball, he smelled something foul and peeped into the nullah, which is around 25 feet deep. He saw some clothes lying in a corner of the nullah and called out to his friends. They decided to check it and lifted the cloth with a stick and were shocked to see the body. They alerted some locals and the police,” said a police officer from Vartak Nagar police station,who did not wish to be named.

Police sources said the area near the nullah is usually isolated.

As of now, the police have registered an accidental death report. “As the body was highly decomposed, we could not make out if it had any injury marks. We are checking with other police stations about missing person complaints and also checking with hospitals to try and identify the woman,” the officer said. “There was no identity proof on and around the body. We suspect she was a homeless woman.”