Visitors to Mahim dargah alert police; search operations to find remaining body parts in the sea-launched
The body parts in the suitcase included a right leg and left hand and were decomposed. Representational pic
Chopped human body parts stuffed in a suitcase were recovered from Mahim on Monday evening when the local police found the bag that washed ashore behind Mahim Dargah at 4.30 pm.
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"Visitors to the dargah noticed a suitcase wash ashore and opened it. To their shock, they saw two chopped human limbs inside and immediately alerted the police control room after which we rushed to the spot and took the custody of the bag," said an officer at Mahim police station.
"The body parts included a right leg and left hand and were decomposed. We have sent them to Sion hospital for an autopsy and the post-mortem analysis report is awaited. We are yet to ascertain if the parts belong to one person or two. Even the gender of the victim is difficult to identify as of now," the officer said.
The police have recorded the statements of eye-witnesses present when the suitcase washed ashore.
Local fishermen to the aid
"We have sent a team into the sea to find the remaining parts of the body but nothing has been fished out yet. We stopped the search operation in the night," the officer said, adding that work would resume on Tuesday with help from local fishermen, Sagari police and coastal police force.
Senior inspector Milind Gadankush said that no case has been registered in the matter yet. "We are waiting for the recovery of the remaining body parts after which a case under relevant sections of the IPC will be registered," he told mid-day.
Sources said that the body parts had no identification mark or jewellery on them.
"We have alerted all the police stations in Mumbai and adjacent districts to ascertain if any missing person's complaint has been registered recently. We will try to get a lead soon," the officer said.
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