Woman’s dismembered body found in cartons, plastic bag in South Delhi

The dismembered body of an unidentified woman was found in two cartons and a plastic bag dumped at a vacant lot in Hazi Colony, Jasola Vihar, in South Delhi on Thursday morning.

Police said the body was chopped into six parts and that the woman’s face had been disfigured by multiple cuts. The head was in one carton while both the severed legs were in the other carton. The plastic bag contained the chopped arms and the torso.

The identity of the woman, who appeared to be in her mid-twenties, could not be established even 40 hours after the recovery of her body parts. No identification documents or tattoos were found on the woman’s body or in the bag and cartons. The body looked not more than a day old, the police said.

The police do not rule out the possibility of a sexual assault. They suspect that the woman was killed elsewhere and her body dumped where it was found in an effort to mislead police and delay the probe. It is suspected that the woman was first smothered using a bag full of rice as some grains of rice were found stuck to her face. The police said they have some clues from the cartons themselves and are following up on these.

A police officer familiar with the case said the crime came to the department’s notice around 8.30 am when a passerby spotted the cartons and the bag with flies hovering over them and called the police control room. The caller told the police that a foul smell was emanating from the bag and cartons. A police team reached the spot and found the body parts after they opened the cartons.

“We found a red and green salwar-kameez on the woman’s body. The body was cut into six pieces using a meat cleaver. The weapon was not found around the spot where the body parts were recovered,” said the officer.

Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (south-east), said a case of murder has been registered at the Sarita Vihar police station and investigations are underway. “The photograph of the woman’s body and other details related to her have been uploaded on the zonal integrated police network (Zipnet). All police stations across Delhi-NCR have been informed about the recovery of the body. We are trying our best to identify the deceased and her killers,” he added.

The woman’s body has been preserved in a government hospital’s mortuary for identification purposes. Police said they are scanning the list of women who have gone missing in the last one week. “We are also scanning CCTV cameras around the spot for clues,” the officer added.

In May this year, the dismembered body parts of a 15-year-old domestic help were found in two bags that were dumped in a drain in outer Delhi’s Mianwali. A fortnight later, police solved the case and arrested one of her killers, who had murdered her for demanding her monthly salary.