The body of an unidentified woman, suspected to be a victim of rape and murder, was recovered from a village under the Duturdaha village panchayat in the Minakhan block of Basirhat subdivision, North 24 Parganas district in Bengal, on Saturday afternoon, officials said.
The woman’s body was found floating in a water body within a fisheries area. When recovered, her clothes were in disarray, and multiple wounds were visible on her body.
Local residents informed the police, who retrieved the body and sent it for a post-mortem examination.
The police suspect a sharp weapon may have caused the injuries. Villagers believe the condition of the body suggests sexual assault before murder.
However, authorities have not confirmed these claims.
“Whether this was a case of rape and murder or just murder will be clear only after the detailed post-mortem report is available. However, we have started our investigation and our prime task is to get to know the identity of the victim,” said a district police official.
At the same time, investigators are also determining whether the crime occurred at the site where the body was found or the crime has been committed elsewhere and thereafter the body was dumped.
Local people said that both theories are possible. “The place from where the body has been recovered is at the border of North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts and this particular spot remains deserted almost throughout the day. So it is quite possible that either the victim was raped and murdered at this spot or the crime was committed elsewhere and subsequently the body was dumped there,” a local villager told newspersons.
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West Bengal has witnessed several cases of rape and murder since mid 2024, including instances involving minors. One of the most shocking incidents was the rape and murder of a woman within the premises of Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in August last year.
