Woman’s severed head found in Kurla days after discovering limbs, torso
Soon after the body parts were found, police had directed locals and youngsters to keep watch in the vicinity of Kurla, Ghatkopar, and Vidyavihar, for a human head.
Ghatkopar police on Saturday evening discovered the severed head of a woman along the tracks near Kurla railway station. Police suspect that it may belong to the unidentified woman whose body was found at Vidyavihar on December 30.
On December 31 morning, police had also recovered two legs in a garbage bin, 500m from where the body was recovered.
Soon after the body parts were found, police had directed locals and youngsters to keep watch in the vicinity of Kurla, Ghatkopar, and Vidyavihar, for a human head.
“We had informed several groups to keep an eye for wrapped packets, because the killer may have used the same technique that he used while disposing other body parts. The other body parts were found wrapped in a bedsheet and the legs were wrapped in a blue tarpaulin sheet,” said a police officer.
“Some children living along the tracks were playing cricket when they saw a dog ravaging a black plastic bag. When the boys saw the head, they informed their family members, neighbours, and shopkeepers in the vicinity. One of the people aware that police were searching for the head of a woman, alerted Ghatkopar police,” said the officer.
The head was partially decomposed and appears to belong to a woman in her 40s, the officer added.
A crime branch officer, who is part of the investigating team, said, “It appears that the killer had used the Vidyavihar route and after disposing of the body and legs, he drove towards Kurla and later onto the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR). He threw the head from the SCLR bridge near the railway tracks. We cannot confirm the same till we nab the culprit.”
“Efforts are on to identify the body recovered and also the culprit. Several teams have been formed to work on all possible angles,” said deputy commissioner of police (zone 7), Akhilesh Kumar Singh.
Given the partially decomposed state of the head, it is difficult for the police to establish the identity of the deceased. However, they are first trying to ascertain if the limbs, body, and head belonged to the same person and have sent samples of the body parts to the Kalina forensic science laboratory (FSL) for DNA testing.