Alarm spread through Gomti Nagar's upscale Vishal Khand-2 on Monday morning after locals discovered that a woman, who appeared to be calmly sitting against a wall near the residence of a former IAS officer, was, in fact, dead.
For several hours, passersby assumed that she was merely resting until her state aroused suspicion, and the police were called in.
The woman's body had been placed upright over a roadside drain, giving the illusion that she was sitting. Police officers who were at the spot said the posture was "highly unusual" and strongly suggested that the body had been discarded there sometime during the dark hours.
"Gomti Nagar police station has sent the dead body to the mortuary. Efforts are being made to identify her," read a police statement.
The woman was later identified as Rekha Verma, 37, the daughter of one Ved Prakash. "She is a resident of Fathepur, Sector B in Aliganj. She was identified by her family members," Gomti Nagar station house officer (SHO) Brajesh Tiwari.
The family told police that she had set out from her home around 11am on Sunday. She was found dead hours later, about 9 kilometres away from her residence.
Assistant commissioner of police (Gomti Nagar) Brij Narayan stated that further clarity on how Verma died would emerge only after the postmortem. "CCTV footage from the locality is being thoroughly reviewed, and a forensic team has conducted a detailed examination of the site," he said.
While there were no major injuries noticed on the body, there were grip marks on her legs, suggesting the use of force, said a police officer privy to the investigation, wishing anonymity. "Police suspect that the woman may have been murdered, and her body was dumped at the spot to mislead or delay identification," said.
Gomti Nagar station house officer (SHO) Brajesh Tiwari told HT that the body was not spotted before 3am. "[The body] was spotted by CCTV only after midnight. Footage from another CCTV camera showed a suspicious auto-rickshaw. However, we are yet to confirm if the body was discarded by the same autorickshaw."
He added that currency notes worth ₹70 found close to the body also raised suspicion.
"There was no mobile phone or identity card on the woman when she was found, which suggests that she may have been killed and the body was dumped there later," said another cop at the station.
Tiwari, too, said that there were no major injury marks on the woman's body. However, her clothes and skin were covered in mud, which suggested that she might have been dragged, he noted.
"I saw her sitting close to a drain around 6am when I left for work. When I was coming back around 9am, she was still sitting there, which drew my attention," said Rani Maurya, a househelp. "All of us gathered and informed the police," said another local.