The body of a 20-year-old girl, naked, with hands tied behind her back, feet tied together and throat slit, was found in her Thakurpukur home on Sunday morning.

Lesley Rebecca Vincent lived in the one-bedroom rented flat with “husband” Evan Vincent, 22, who was not traced till late on Sunday, making him a prime suspect in the brutal murder.

Both Lesley and Evan — her family told police on Sunday that they were not married — worked for a call centre, neighbours said.

The two were last seen by neighbours on Friday evening, when a prolonged power cut had forced the residents of Shantoshreepally near the Thakurpukur cancer hospital out on the streets. Soon after that, Evan Vincent was seen leaving for work.

The first whiff of foul play was picked up early on Sunday by a neighbour — one of the three tenants on the ground floor — as “a foul smell” forced her to shut the window before going to sleep.

When on Sunday morning the stench persisted, the neighbour (who did not wish to be named) alerted the landlady, Namita Chowdhury, on the first floor.

With no one responding in the Vincent house, Namita’s son Akash Chowdhury peered through a gap in the window and spotted Lesley’s body.

“She was lying on the mattress, naked, with her hands tied behind her back and her feet tied together. There was a lot of blood around her face and neck,” said Akash (picture in box by Tamaghna Banerjee).

The cops were called in and they managed to enter the flat through the adjoining room.

“The body had stiffened and was beginning to decompose. So she must have been murdered late on Friday or sometime on Saturday,” said a senior official.

Preliminary investigation suggested that Lesley was attacked from behind. A thin steel wire was used to strangulate her. She was probably overpowered, tied up and then her throat was slit with a sharp weapon.

There were no other marks of injury on her body, implying that the “victim could not resist the assailant or fight back”. It is not clear if there was one assailant or more.

Lesley was living at this address for close to two years. The tenancy agreement states that she was married to Evan, but her family members, who live in Behala, refuted that.

“They kept to themselves and either worked night shifts or stayed up late. They would watch TV or listen to music very loud, even late at night. But we never heard them quarrel,” said neighbours.

The police are trying to trace Lesley’s mobile phone and waiting for the preliminary post-mortem report to throw up clues on Monday.