The body was found lying in a drum in inverted position in a house in Thane. (Representational Image)
A highly decomposed body of a 26-year-old woman, who went missing nearly two months back, was found concealed in a water storage drum in Thane, police said today.
The body was found lying in the drum in an inverted position in the house at Mumbra Devi colony of Diva, near here and has been sent for post mortem, Inspector S V Nikam of Mumbra police station told PTI.
A case under section 302 (murder) and section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the accused identified as Manoj Singh (35) who hails from Basti in Uttar Pradesh, he said.
The victim lived with her father and four-year-old daughter after separating from her husband, Nikam said.
Singh and the woman had changed their residences and SIM cards of their cell phones on several occasions, he said adding the two were in a relationship.
The victim went to her office on July 11 but did not return home that day. Her father lodged a missing complaint with police, following which a search was initiated, the inspector said.
The accused allegedly killed the woman on July 11 and dumped her body into the drum in his house where he was staying as a tenant. The next morning, he locked the house and informed his neighbour that he was leaving for Uttar Pradesh and would return within two weeks, Nikam said.
Since he did not return, the house owner wanted to rent the house to somebody else. He then opened the door yesterday and found a foul smell emanating from the house, he said.
He found the body inside the drum and informed the police, the officer said, adding a hunt is on for Singh.