SALEM: The mortal remains of an unidentified woman, dismembered into seven pieces and packed in three plastic sacks, were recovered from the roof and water tanks of two houses at Arisipalayam in Salem district on Monday. Investigation is under way to ascertain the identity of the woman, who is suspected to be aged around 35 to 40 years.
According to sources, the incident came to light when Ramesh of Gunabalan Ramasamy Street, a priest and resident of one of the houses, returned home on Monday after spending two days in Kumbakonam with his family. As his family members opened a house tap for domestic purposes, they smelt a foul odour emanating from the water and decided to inspect the two rooftop tanks.
During the inspection, Ramesh found a plastic sack, containing a human leg, inside one of the tanks. Alarmed, he searched the other tank and found a similar sack with human remains. Startled by the discovery, he alerted A Pallapatti police, who rushed to the spot.
‘Woman may have been killed two days ago’
The police further recovered a third sack with body parts from the roof of a neighbouring house. Police seized all three sacks and sent them to Salem Government Hospital for postmortem examination.
Police sources said, “We are yet to ascertain the identity of the deceased woman. Her remains have been dismembered into seven parts, tied in sacks and hidden in three places. Based on preliminary reports, the woman could be aged between 35 and 40 years and had the word ‘Ganapati’ tattooed on her arm.
We conducted an inquiry with the neighbours and locals in the area, but they had no knowledge of the woman.” Sources further said that the woman could have been murdered two or three days ago. “The person responsible might have known that Ramesh and his family were out of town and hence dumped the body there.
We are still investigating and cannot comment further,” police said. Meanwhile, a team of forensic experts arrived on the spot and collected samples. Sniffer dogs were also brought to the scene to identify suspects. While some news reports said three persons have been detained in the incident, there is no confirmation from the police.