Police at the spot where the youth’s chopped body was found near Gautiroutpatna. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, May 16: The body of an unidentified youth, chopped into pieces, was recovered today from a deserted place at Tanrpa area near Gautiroutpatna in the Chauliaganj police limits.

Police said the body had been cut into nine pieces and stuffed in four bags.

The police said the youth, believed to be aged between 22 and 25, had probably been murdered elsewhere and his body was disposed of at Tanrpa. Last night, the cops stumbled upon the body parts stuffed in the bags. However, they opened the bags in presence of local residents early morning today.

The police suspect it to be a case of revenge and more than two persons are involved in the murder as it appears that the youth was first killed and later his body was chopped into pieces. It is also suspected that a cutter has been used in the crime as the body has been precisely cut. The killers have cut the body in parts to destroy evidences and mislead investigation, the police said.

The body has been sent for autopsy. “We have registered a case,” said Chauliganj inspector-in-charge S. Mallik. The head was found wrapped in polythene inside one bag while the torso up to the knees was stuffed in another bag. The legs and hands that were tied with a rope were found in a separate bag.

The police said the youth’s belongings, including a few clothes, toothbrush, two blood-stained bedsheets, were also recovered from a bag. No identity card, wallet or mobile phone of the deceased was found creating problems in ascertaining the victim’s identity. The matter came to light after local residents had informed police about the abandoned bags yesterday evening.

“A foul smell had been coming from near the bushes along the embankment for the past couple of days. Initially, we thought that some animal had died nearby,” Ranjan Pati, a local resident.

“It is a pre-planned murder as the body has been chopped into pieces and disposed of at an isolated place. We suspect that the youth was killed at some other place and his body has been dumped here,” said sarpanch Pitabas Behera.

Behera said the local people were not feeling safe to venture out during evening hours as there had been a rise in criminal activities here owing to lack of adequate patrolling from Patharpada up to Tanrpa area near Biribati. The murder has become the talk of the town as it is for the first time that such an incident has been reported in the Commissionerate police jurisdiction.

Earlier, a headless body of a 37-year-old man was found near Korkara village in the Sadar police limits on August 9 last. Similarly, another man was hacked to death and his body set on fire by goons at Kishore Nagar on April 1, 2011.