Chennai: A body of a 33-year-old woman who went missing from West Mambalam three weeks back was fished out of a manhole of sewage line in K V Colony, the same neighbourhood she belonged to. Body of the woman, B. Devika of II street of KV Colony was fished out of manhole VI street by Metro water workers who were desilting sewage line. It was a closed manhole, the workers had opened it to clean.
A police team which rushed to the point to shift the body to the GH for post mortem later said that the body belonged to a mentally disturbed woman Devika, missing since November 9. Police said that her uncle had lodged a complaint the next day and a missing complaint was registered in Ashok Nagar police station.
The police after inspecting the body and conducting first round of enquiries said that it looked like a suicide. Police also said that when the family lodged the complaint they intimated that she went out saying that she was going to end her life. Local residents however noted that there was no open manhole in the area for the woman to commit suicide by jumping into it.
Police could not locate her in the last three weeks. Devika’s father is also not mentally sound and her mother Padmavathy is is bedridden because of illness. It was her mother identified the body.
Police said that the body was decomposed and it was difficult to look for any visible external injuries. However the investigators indicated that the chances of murder was less and suggested that the woman might have committed suicide.
“Even while filing the missing complaint, the family told that Devika left home saying that she was going to end her life and suggested that we should check beach and GH morgue,” the police said. Local residents however were not ready to buy the suicide theory of the police and pointed out that there was no open manhole in the area. Most people had seen him walking in the street regularly in the morning and evening.
When contacted a Metro water official said that all the manholes in the area were closed. And there is no possibility of the woman falling in some other manhole and body getting moved to this manhole.
If she had removed the lid and jumped in to commit suicide, then who had closed it? Only the police team now probing the case, can answer the question.
