Satara: Parts of a woman's partially decomposed body were found in a sugarcane field in Vidani village of Phaltan tehsil in Satara district of Maharashtra. Things like gulal, coconut and a black doll were found near the body, police said on Saturday.
The body parts was found on Friday in the field owned by one Pradip Jadhav. We suspect that the woman was killed and later her body was thrown into the field. We removed the body from the field on Friday afternoon, a senior police official said.
"Police Patil Sheetal Narkar gave information about the incident to Phaltan Rural Police. Senior police officials of Satara Police including Additional SP Vaishali Kaduskar, Phaltan DySp Rahul Dhas, and Police Inspector Sunil Mahadik reached the spot along with Local Crime Branch Police Inspector Arun Devkar. We are investigating the matter. The identity of the deceased is yet to be ascertained," the police official added.
Police said that the woman could have been killed a week ago. They said the deceased woman's torso was missing and the skull was found in a watercourse two hundred to three hundred meters away.
"We are searching for the other body parts. Since the sugarcane field is spread over 9 to 10 acres, searching for the remaining parts of the body is proving challenging. We have asked a local sugarcane factory to cut the sugarcane in the field," the police official added.
Meanwhile, Hamid Dabholkar, convener of Maharashtra Andhrashraddha Nirmulan Samiti, an anti-superstition body, said "The Satara Police need to investigate whether there is any angle of superstition in this death.
"Given the various items found near the body, it is more likely that it was a human sacrifice. The Maharashtra government has issued orders to set up an anti-superstition cell in every police station. However, it is not being implemented in many districts. Anti-superstition cells should be set up in police stations in every tehsil and the anti-witchcraft law should be effectively implemented. If this is done, it is hoped that such incidents can be avoided," added Dabholkar.
