Basta/Rupsa: In a shocking incident, villagers stumbled upon a gunny bag containing a human skeleton from a pond while drying up the water body to catch fish at Panisulia village under Singla police limits in Balasore district, Saturday.
The recovery of a human skull and bones sparked surprise among the villagers. They informed the police who reached the spot and seized the sack. An investigation was launched and a scientific team was also pressed into service.
Sources said a group of villagers stumbled upon the sack, Saturday morning when they were cleaning the pond to dry it up before catching fish. To their horror, upon opening the sack, they found a human skeleton with clothes tucked inside it. As the news spread, a large crowd gathered at the spot.
On being informed, sarpanch Prabhat Das reached the spot and informed the police. The identity of the deceased is yet to be ascertained but it is being suspected that the person was murdered and then shoved into a sack before being thrown into the pond. The exact cause of death and the identity of the deceased can be ascertained only after the post-mortem report is available, police officials added.
Sources said the skeleton has been sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL). Villagers suspect that the skeleton is of a girl who went missing from the village one and half years back.