Mahesh Sharma
Mandi Ahmedgarh/ Raikot, July 15

The police remained on toes trying to handle and identify four bodies recovered from the Sidhwan Canal at Gill Bridge and a sewerage pipe at Jagraon during the past 24 hours.

Two of the bodies, including that of a 10-year-old child, were identified and handed over to families. However, the remaining two bodies are yet to be identified. The body recovered from a sewerage pipe at Jagraon, suspected to be dumped in winters, was so mutilated that the police are yet to ascertain the gender of the deceased.

Pardeep Kumar, executive officer, Municipal Committee, Jagraon, said sanitation workers cleaning the sewerage drain at Disposal Road spotted the badly mutilated body, submerged under silt, on Wednesday evening. The body was wrapped in a blanket. The victim was wearing blue jeans and a woolen pullover before death, which suggests that he or she had been killed in winters. The Jagraon city police have registered an FIR under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC against some unknown persons and initiated a process for identification of the deceased and the killers.

Merado Colony Chowki SHO Subhash Kataria said three bodies were found, one after the other, from Sidhwan Canal near Gill Bridge on Wednesday. A 10-year-old child, who had drowned while swimming, was identified as Krishana Aggarwal of Janta Nagar. Another body found was identified to be that of Jugal Kishor, a tea vendor of Gill Bridge area. The vendor was in his early 60s and is known to have slipped while washing something in canal waters near the bridge. The police handed over both the bodies after conducting inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC.

The third body, fished out from Sidhwan Canal, was kept at the mortuary of Dehlon Civil Hospital for identification. The deceased is a Sikh, around 60-year-old, and was wearing greenish kurta pajama at the time of drowning and his long hair and beards seems to be natural black.