Kochi: Sex ring behind woman murder'

KOCHI: The police suspect the involvement of a sex racket behind the murder of a woman whose body was recovered from Periyar river a few days ago. However, a senior cop refused to comment anything on the development.

According to the police, the body was almost decayed when it was recovered from the spot. "We cannot confirm any rape attempt as the body was in a very bad condition. It seems the criminals had planned to make the body decay as it reduces the chances for a headway in the investigation," an official said.

Even after five days of starting a probe, the victim's identity has not been established. Sources said that the police were scanning the data of missing women from all across the state over the past one year. "As of now, none of them matched the external features of the deceased person. An investigation is also on to the sex rackets engaged in trafficking young women in and out of the state," a source said.

Earlier, the police team had found that a woman and a man had purchased a blanket (that was used to wrap the body of the woman) from a textile shop near Kalamassery on the night of February 7. They reached the spot in a car. Since the shop didn't have a CCTV visual, the police could not identify the car. The couple, suspected to be involved in the murder, are still at large.

The body was fished out by the Auva rural police on Wednesday from the Periyar which was wrapped up in several blankets with a heavy stone attached to it. The body was spotted by the seminarians at the Vincentian Vidhyabhavan near UC College on Tuesday evening when they were taking bath in the bathing ghat adjacent to their institution.