The charred body of an unidentified woman was recovered from a haystack on a mango plantation in Malda district on Friday.

Sources said the body had been spotted at Malatipur under the jurisdiction of Chanchal police station by local people. Soon, a large contingent of police led by Somnath Saha and Purnendu Kundu, the subdivisional police officer and the inspector-in-charge of Chanchal police station, respectively, reached the spot.

The police seized the body and sent it to Malda Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem.

"A pair of earrings, a sharp knife and some other items were found on the spot,” said a senior police officer.

During the investigation, the police found that the victim might be from Kaliaganj in neighbouring North Dinajpur district.

“We have received CCTV footage from North Dinajpur district police and it matches with the footage we found in Malda. A woman, accompanied by a man, was seen boarding a train at a station in North Dinajpur and de-boarding at the Samsi railway station in Malda. They were also seen heading towards Malatipur,” the police officer added.

He said the woman seen in the footage seemed to be the victim. “We are trying to identify her and the man with her,” he said.

“We suspect she was first killed and then her body was set on fire,” the officer added.