Decomposed body tied with rope found in blue drum in chilling echo of Meerut murder case
A decomposed body of a 40-year-old man was discovered in a drum in Ludhiana, wrapped in a bedsheet and bound with rope. Police are investigating potential links to recent murders and examining missing persons reports as well as CCTV footage to identify the victim and the suspects.
A decomposed body of a 40-year-old man was found stuffed inside a blue drum in Ludhiana’s Sherpur area on Wednesday morning. Ragpickers discovered the body after noticing a strong foul smell coming from the abandoned drum placed in a vacant plot, evoking chilling memories of the sensational Meerut murder case.
According to a News18 report, Division Number 6 police visited the scene and said the body was wrapped in a bedsheet, enclosed in a plastic gunny sack, with the neck and legs tightly bound with rope.
This discovery comes months after the high-profile Meerut murder case, where a former merchant navy officer was allegedly stabbed to death, his body chopped up, and concealed in a similar drum.
‘Post-mortem will determine the exact cause of death’
“The deceased appears to be a migrant based on facial features. There are no visible injury marks due to the deteriorated condition, but the post-mortem will determine the exact cause of death,” News18 quoted Inspector Kulwant Kaur, the Station House Officer (SHO), as saying.
Investigators have maintained a list of 42 drum manufacturing units in the city, raising suspicions that the drum was newly bought, suggesting the purpose of disposing of the body. Police have filed a case of murder against unknown persons and initiated a probe to identify both the victim and the killers. “There is suspicion that the drum was freshly bought before the killing,” India Today quoted police sources as saying.
Police are also checking CCTV footage from nearby areas to trace any movement related to the drum being thrown at the spot. Further, they are looking into missing persons reports filed in Ludhiana and neighbouring districts over the last week to identify the victim.
“Many drum companies are being questioned. A large number of migrants live around the crime scene, and we are interrogating them as well,” Kaur said, India Today reported.
Authorities suspect the precision in the way the body was wrapped and hidden suggests that the crime could have been premeditated and someone familiar with the area carried it out.