The body of a girl, suspected to be aged around 15-18 years, was found in a steel drum off Palm Beach Road at Nerul on Friday.
“The accused, taking advantage of the bad weather, is suspected to have dumped the body on the pathway that leads to a temple. Due to the cyclone and rain, nobody had visited the temple for around four days,” Suresh Mengde, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone I, said.
After the murder, the body was wrapped with a piece of cloth and tied with a nylon rope before being put inside the drum. A devotee going to the temple noticed the drum and found the body. The drum has names engraved as ‘Ashok’ gifting it to ‘Archana’ on the occasion of Bhaubeez and the date mentioned is of November 13, 2015.
A Crime Branch team along with the Nerul police are trying to identify the deceased. “The body was decomposed and beyond recognition. Doctors checked the body and in preliminary findings, found the gender and the suspected age group. The doctors also found out that the deceased was likely to be mentally challenged,” senior police inspector Shyam Shinde from Nerul police station said.
The post-mortem report is awaited. A case of murder has been registered at Nerul police station.
