Police did not rule out the possibility that the victim was murdered somewhere else and his body was burnt here.
A half-burnt body of an unidentified man was found in the forest area in Sector 25 near Dhanas Lake towards garbage dumping ground on Thursday. The upper portion of the body was completely burnt.
Police registered a case of murder and destruction of evidence. Ashes of burnt documents and clothes were found on the spot. Two forest peons, who were patrolling in the forest area, spotted the body. They informed the police control room and forest department officials.
Senior police officers, including officiating SSP (UT) Vinit Kumar, rushed to the spot. Police did not rule out the possibility that the victim was murdered somewhere else and his body was burnt here.
Forest peon Mahinder Ram informed the police that he along with his colleague was patrolling in the forest area when he observed foul smell. He maintained as he went inside the forest, a half-burnt body was found. There was a foul smell emanating from the body.
The Chandigarh Police forensic team along with a team of CFSL, Sector 36, too, visited the spot. The CFSL-36 team seized samples of ashes, a few documents and a cloth from the spot.
Sub-Inspector Shiv Charan, incharge of Sector 24 police post, said, “We are hopeful that the forensic examination of the ashes, documents etc will make it clear what kind of product was used to burn the body. The body was kept in the mortuary of GMSH-16. A special panel of doctors will conduct the postmortem examination.”
A case under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destroying the evidence) of the IPC was registered at the Sector 11 police station.
It is the second time when Chandigarh Police came across a blind murder case in the last two months. On June 23, two severed feet along with a body of a newly born girl child were found lying near the building of State Bank of India, Sector 17.
The severed feet were wrapped in two newspapers. The body of the girl child was found lying in the bushes of a vacant plot adjoining the SBI building. A murder case was registered at Sector 17 police station. However, the police failed to make any headway with the case.