A decomposed body, with hands and legs tied, stuffed in a sack was recovered by Uttar Pradesh Police in Basti district. The body was so badly decomposed that identification was beyond question. Long hair and a kurta-pyjama made police believe it was that of a woman.
Locals led police to the sack on Sunday after a foul smell spread in the area.
Soon, police reached the spot and examined the body, which was bloated s it was submerged in water, and had started to decompose, making identification difficult.
In a red kurta and white pyjamas, police assumed the body was that of a woman after they noticed long hair. They sent it for post-mortem examination.
That is when the story saw a twist.
Doctors performing the post-mortem examination found the body was that of a man, and not of a woman.
The doctors were shocked as the corpse was initially reported to be a woman’s by the police.
The doctors refused to perform the postmortem until the police report, which mentioned the body to be of a woman’s, was corrected.
The police had kept the body in a morgue for 72 hours.
The body was likely that of a priest’s. There was a rope around his neck, leading to suspicions that he might have been strangled, a senior police official said.
“An investigation is being conducted to find out how such a mistake in identification happened,” he added.