On Tuesday, a young woman’s decaying body was found floating in the Periyar river in Aluva, Kerala, making it the second incident within a span of seven months where a body was found in the river’s course in Ernakulam. Reports state that a group of Seminarians from the Vincentian Vidhyabhavan near Aluva’s UC college noticed the floating body when they visited the bathing ghat behind the college on Tuesday evening.
“The body was wrapped in several bedsheets. There were stones and concrete bits tied to the corpse which was decaying and it looked a few days old,” an officer from the Aluva East police station told TNM. The officer also added that the woman has not yet been identified.
“It is difficult to identify the deceased as the body is already decomposing. The identifying markers as of now are two moles on the face. The toe and fingernails on the body are also neatly trimmed and polished. We suspect it to be that of a woman between ages 25 and 30,” he added.
According to reports, the deceased was wearing green track pants and a dark blue vest. The stones and concrete pieces which she was tied to weighed around 40 kilos altogether.
The Aluva East police have registered a case of unnatural death following the discovery. However, based on strong evidence of murder and attempt to submerge the body in the water, which is observed from the stones that the body was tied to, the police have decided to update the section to IPC 307 (murder) after receiving autopsy reports.
“From initial inspection, we suspect smothering. The body has been sent to the Medical College Hospital in Kalamassery. We are still waiting for the report and based on what is says, the sections will be updated,” the officer added.
This is not the first time that the body of a woman has been found floating in the Periyar in Ernakulam. In August 2018, the mortal remains of Anliya Huygens, a 25 year old post graduate student from Thrissur district, was found floating in the Periyar in the Vadakkekara police station limits in Ernakulam. In an 18 page diary found nearly a month after her death, Anliya alleged that she was tortured by her husband and his family post marriage.