The identity of the woman whose body parts were found in three polythene bags in an abandoned CISF barracks in Watgunge was established on Wednesday night.
Police identified the victim as Durga Sarkhel, aged between 34 and 35, a resident of Namak Mahal in the West Port police station area. She was married into a family at Hemchandra Street in Kidderpore, not far from the place where her body parts were found on Tuesday afternoon, the police said.
The victim’s brother-in-law has been detained while a search has been launched for her husband.
Police said she was married to Dhoni Sarkel and used to live in a joint family. The couple has a son who is a student of Class X, the police said.
“The circumstances around her death are being examined,” said deputy commissioner (port division), Kolkata Police, Harikrishna Pai.
Sources said the body was identified by the woman’s maternal family members at the SSKM Hospital morgue on Wednesday evening.
Her family members were being questioned at the police station till late on Wednesday to collect details about the woman.
She was reported missing for the past few days.
The preliminary postmortem report revealed that her death was caused by the slitting of her throat with a sharp weapon, the police said.
Then body was chopped off into pieces.
The place of murder was elsewhere, cops said.
Police had circulated the photograph of the woman’s head across all the police stations in the city and the adjoining districts to identify the victim.
Initially, the victim’s features were found to be close to that of a woman who was reported missing at Maniktala police station, and then her features matched with another woman who was reported missing at the Cossipore police station. But in both cases, the deceased person’s details did not match with the missing persons.
The victim’s head was found in a polythene bag along with a brick. A red hair clip was found attached to her braid and she had a nose pin on, police sources said.
Other body parts including legs without the feet and a portion of her chest were found in two separate polythene bags.
A case under sections of murder and causing disappearance of evidence has been started against unknown persons at Watgunge police station.