An unidentified, tied-up body of a young woman with her throat slit and face charred beyond recognition, was found in a pool of blood from an orchard close to the India-Bangladesh border in North 24-Parganas on Tuesday morning.

The murder of the woman in her mid-20s has been highlighted by the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari as an instance of women being unsafe in Bengal.

Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, tore into the Mamata Banerjee government over how it slams the saffron regime for crimes against women in BJP-ruled states such as Uttar Pradesh but apparently keeps quiet when something like this takes place in Bengal.

To this, Trinamul state general-secretary Kunal Ghosh said police were probing the case. "If it is a cross-border issue, the BSF will be able to throw light on it," he added.

Some farmers spotted smoke from the orchard and discovered the body. By the time villagers doused the fire, her face was damaged beyond recognition.

A gram panchayat member, who saw the body, said: “It appears the girl was brutally tortured and killed.”

Informed by villagers, the police took away the body for an autopsy to the nearest district hospital. Till Tuesday evening, her identity was in the dark.

Police began a case of unnatural death, suspecting the victim could be a Bangladeshi national who was killed while being trafficked.

The chief of the region’s police district said: “We have sent messages to all nearby police stations. But no information about her identity has been made available so far.”

“Sexual assault cannot be ascertained till the autopsy report is received,” he added.

Police also contacted the BSF to obtain information about any missing woman from the other side of the border through the agency’s Bangladeshi counterpart, the Border Guard Bangladesh.