The decomposed body of a woman was found buried under a stretch of Bidhan Sarani, near its crossing with Kashi Bose Lane, in north Calcutta on Saturday afternoon after residents of in the area complained of foul smell.

Police said the Kolkata Municipal Corporation had been doing excavation work on the stretch to lay a water pipe and the stretch was dug up.

The local civic body representative said the road was dug up since July 6 for laying a pipeline. The work was stalled on July 9 because of the bypoll to the Maniktala Assembly seat on July 10.

The councillor of Ward 17, Mohan Kumar Gupta, told The Telegraph that the project to lay a six-inch pipeline was in progress and had to be stopped because of the bypoll and the dug up portion was sealed with loose soil.

“Around 4pm on Saturday, someone in the locality came and informed me that a strong stench was coming from the stretch that had been dug up and that someone saw a body inside,” said Gupta.

The police said the soil was dug out and a woman’s body was found in the space that had earlier been dug for laying the pipeline.

The woman was wearing a shirt that had got soiled and the body did not have clothes below the waist. The body was removed in a body bag and taken to RG Kar hospital on Saturday evening.

A senior officer at the Kolkata Police headquarters said according to an autopsy expert who had seen the body, there was “no external mark of injury on the victim and the approximate age of the woman appeared to be between 40 and 45 years. The rest will be found after the post-mortem”.

Officers of the homicide wing of the detective department said the posture in which the body was found was important.

“The tongue was found protruding out of the mouth. The way the body was found — if the head and torso was recovered first or if the waist and legs were closer to the surface of the road and recovered first — will be important to ascertain the nature of death,” said an officer.

Residents of the area expressed fear and shock as the body was dug out from under Bidhan Sarani, which has a tram line running over it.

“We cannot imagine how a woman’s body could be dumped under the road in such a busy locality. It is not even clear if she slipped and fell into the hole that had been dug. If that is the case, that is more dangerous. Many of us cross the stretch every day. It could have happened to my children also,” said a homemaker.

The police said they were trying to find out if the body matched with the description of anyone who had been reported missing in the last seven days.