Unidentified woman's body found at Panskura

The body of a woman with her face mutilated by acid was found behind bushes in a playground at Panskura in East Midnapore on Sunday morning. Police suspect that the woman was raped and murdered.

A police officer said that local people saw the body and informed the police. Policemen from local police station went to the spot and found the body bearing several injury marks.

"The accused have mutilated the face of the woman with acid so that she cannot be identified. Preliminary investigation revealed that she was killed somewhere else and later dumped here," the police officer said adding that they are quite certain that the crime was not the outcome of someone's sudden fit of rage but instead it was a meticulously planned murder.

The saree of the woman was found a few yards away from the spot where the body was lying. The police are yet to get the post-mortem report, but are suspecting that she was kidnapped and taken to some place where she was raped and subsequently murdered. Moreover, it seems that the woman was killed at least 24 to 36 hours before the body was spotted due to it being partly decomposed.

The body was kept for a long time somewhere and was dumped at the dead of the night. The police have ascertained that there was more than one person who had committed the crime. They had spoken to some people who reside near the spot. A local resident told the police that they had heard a motorbike moving around the place two to three times in the wee hours. On Sunday morning they felt a foul smell and found the body of the woman.