New Delhi: The dead body of a 30-year-old woman was found in a highly decomposed state hidden inside the bed box at her residence in south east Delhi's Tughlakabad Extension.
Police said the woman, identified as Maria Masih, had shifted to the rented flat a month ago, along with her husband Suresh, who is reportedly a physiotherapist in a hospital.
However, Suresh has been reported missing since the incident, police added.
A relative of Maria had reached her house on Monday evening, after she did not pick when her phone.
On reaching Maria's house, the relative found a strong stench emanating from the house. Suspicious, the relative and broke open the door, eventually finding her decomposed body inside the box of the bed.
Immediately, cops were informed and senior oficers rushed to the spot, and fingerprints from the spot were taken by the forensic team.
"We received a call at around 4.30 pm at Govindpuri. On reaching the spot, a a dead body in a decomposed state was found in the box of the bed. During enquiry, she was identified as Maria Masih. Her husband Suresh is untracable as of now," DCP (South East) Chinmoy Biswal said.
Police have sent the body for postmortem to AIIMS.
Cops suspect that the murder was committed around 10-15 days ago and her body hidden inside the bed later to conceal the crime, after which the house was locked from outside. This, sources said, points to the involvement of an acquaintance.
It is still unclear how and why Maria was murdered. Delhi Police have formed several teams to trace the culprit.
Cops are talking to the landlord and neighbours, so as to know if the husband and wife were on good terms.
They are also collecting CCTV footage from the area to know whether someone left or entered the house in the past few days.
Several teams have been made to locate the murdered woman's husband Suresh and efforts are made to talk to his family and collegues to know when they last heard from him.