Aluva: Seminarians at the Vincentian Vidhyabhavan near UC College at Aluva in Kerala's Ernakulam district were in for a shock on Tuesday evening when they reached the bathing ghat in Periyar River behind their institute.
The theological students were taking a dip in the river when they spotted a woman's hand in decomposed condition sticking out of a bundle of cloths stuck in the middle of Periyar.
Scared, the seminarians sought the help of neighbours and police to fish out the bundle around 9:30pm only to find a 30-year-old woman's body wrapped in several bedsheets.
The meticulous manner in which the body was wrapped, tied to big boulders and left to drown in Periyar was clear indication of foul play. The woman's mouth was stuffed with cloth, leading to suspicion that she was choked to death.
According to police, the body was caught in the tree branches and only the hand was protruding out.
The body was in a decomposed condition and the cops suspect that the woman could have been murdered a few days ago and the body was dumped in the river by the killers.
The body was sent to Kalamassery Medical College for autopsy at 12pm on Wednesday. The woman was wearing a green-coloured track suit and dark blue vest.
Preliminary reports suggested that she was around 30 years of age.
The boulders and concrete pieces tied to the body weighed around 40 kg. The concrete pieces appear to have been sliced off some big slab. Cops claimed that despite the weight, body floated in the river due strong undercurrents.
The police have started checking the missing people's complaints filed in the neighbouring areas in the recent past.
