Investigations into the suspicious death of a 25-year-old woman led police to stop her last rites and take away the half-burnt body for postmortem in Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh district.

Police acted on a complaint lodged by the kin of the deceased woman who claimed she was murdered by her in-laws, an allegation they have denied, an official said on Tuesday.

The brother of the deceased came to know from villagers that his sister was being cremated, following which he approached the police.

"Brother of the deceased Reena Tanwar lodged a complaint stating his sister was killed by her in-laws who used to harass her, and her last rites were being conducted without informing her parents," said Kalipeeth police station in-charge Rajnish Sirotia.

Police rushed to the crematorium in Lakshmanpura village on Monday, pulled out the half-burnt body from the funeral pyre and shifted it for postmortem, he said.

Further action will be dependent on the findings of the postmortem report, he added.

Sirotia said the in-laws of the deceased woman claimed that she died after being bitten by a poisonous animal.

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