The body of a 20-year-old woman, whose identity has not been established, was found on a footpath in Jodhpur Park around midnight on Saturday.

The body bore signs of strangulation and an injury mark on the back of the head. A gamchha was found beside it, and sleuths suspect it was used as a noose to kill the woman.

Police said after a preliminary investigation that the woman was not from the neighbourhood.

According to B.N. Ramesh, deputy commissioner of police (south), she was killed somewhere else and the body was dumped on the footpath from a car.

?The body has been sent for post-mortem. The injury on the head was caused possibly when the body was thrown off the car. The detective department has joined the probe. I cannot say anything else before going through the post-mortem report,? said Ramesh.

The body was noticed by a night guard, Shyamal Das, employed by residents of the locality, around 11.30 pm.

It was lying under a tree, in front of a three-storeyed apartment building, vacant except for a family and a guard.

?I saw a woman lying under the tree and thought she was unconscious. I called out to her, but she did not respond. After a close look, I realised she was dead,? Das said.

He immediately informed Lake police station and officers from both the thana and the homicide section of the detective department arrived on the spot.

Police grilled the guard of the apartment building, in front of which the body was found. ?It was around 2 am when I heard repeated knocks on the gate. As I opened it, I saw police,? said the guard, who refused to disclose his name.

?The cops took me under the tree and asked me about the body. The woman was wearing a red kurta, with a white dupatta, and white pyjamas. Her head was on the side of the building and the legs pointed towards the road,? the guard recalled.

He claimed he had not seen anything suspicious when he closed the building?s gate around 9 pm.

An officer of Lake police station said: ?We are in the dark about the motive behind the murder. No one has claimed to have seen anything that could provide us with a clue. Besides, the neighbourhood is desolate and quiet and it?s very difficult to find a witness.?