Police stand outside the morgue on Monday. Picture by Sachin

The back-to-back recovery of decomposed bodies of two young women from a sewerage line at Sandalpur in Patna City on Monday morning sent shockwaves among residents.

Police said the residents of Sakri Lane noticed a body stuffed in a plastic bag floating in the sewerage line in the morning. They immediately informed the Alamganj police. A team headed by the station house officer (SHO), Akil Ahmad, rushed to the spot. Soon after they took the body in possession, they found another body floating nearby in the sewerage line.

The unidentified bodies of the young women, aged around 30, were sent to the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem. Ahmad, the Alamganj SHO, said the first body was stuffed in a plastic bag while the other was wrapped in a chatai (mattress).

The second victim was semi-nude. She might have been raped before being killed. Preliminary investigation revealed that the victims were killed elsewhere and their bodies were dumped in the sewerage line to mislead the police.

The recovery of two women’s bodies has sent shockwaves among the residents of Patna City, who alleged that criminal activities had shot up in the recent past. On Sunday, a group of armed criminals opened fire in the Dargah Road locality, leading to the death of a shopkeeper. A passer-by suffered injuries.

“The situation is fast turning from bad to worse. The senior police officers should intervene to check the crime in the Patna City sub-division,” said Tuntun Kumar Singh, a resident of Sandalpur locality.

Deputy superintendent of police (Patna City) Rajesh Kumar said the police were groping in the dark till the evening in the back-to-back body recovery case. “We don’t have any definite clue about the motive of the killers. Even the identity of the deceased could not be ascertained yet,” he said.

He said the police would be able to comment on the matter after receiving the autopsy report. “If it becomes clear that the victims were raped, the police would start the investigation from that angle,” he added.

Alamganj SHO Ahmad said: “Till Tuesday evening, nobody turned up either at the police station or the hospital to stake claim for the bodies.”

A section of residents claimed that they had spotted one of the bodies floating in the sewerage line late on Sunday evening. But they did not report the matter to the police fearing harassment.