Decomposed body in Hingna field may be missing Meena Telang; DNA test ordered, murder not ruled out

A woman's badly decomposed body was found in a field in the Deoli Pendhri area of Hingna, Nagpur district, on Tuesday. The discovery has left the locality alarmed. Police suspect the remains may be those of Bali alias Meena Ranveer Telang, a 43-year-old resident of the same area who has been missing for 28 days. They have not confirmed this. Murder is also being suspected, though police have reached no finding on whether the death was a killing or an accident.

Police were told around 12.30 pm that a body lay in a field in the Deoli area. DCP Zone 1 Rushikesh Reddy and Inspector Pramod Ghonge went to the spot with a team. The body had decomposed so far that its face could not be recognised, and relatives who saw it could not identify it either. Police have registered a case of accidental death and sent the body for post-mortem.

The suspicion rests on two things. Meena has been missing for four weeks, and the description of her clothes given earlier matches what the body was wearing. Police stress that clothing is not proof.

Meena vanished from her home on the night of October 6. Her husband Ranveer told police he came home that day after working in his field. At about 8 pm the couple argued over Meena starting a conversation with a man. Ranveer then sat down in the hall, and Meena went to the kitchen saying, "I am making food." When Ranveer went to the kitchen a little later, she was gone.

Relatives and neighbours searched the area but found no trace of her. A missing-person complaint was lodged at Hingna police station on October 7. Police registered a case of abduction and began an investigation, but nothing had surfaced about her whereabouts before this body was found.

To settle the identity, police will take blood samples from Meena's parents for DNA profiling. DCP Reddy said the identity can be confirmed only once the DNA report arrives, and that the test would clear up the matter. He added that the body is in such poor condition that the cause of death cannot be determined now. Only the post-mortem may shed light on it.

If the remains turn out to be Meena's, investigators will have to answer several questions. Where was she during the 28 days after she disappeared? What caused her death? Was anyone else involved, and if so, who is responsible? Police are waiting for the DNA and post-mortem reports, which they hope will help solve the mystery of her disappearance and death.