Representative image.
Credit: iStock Photo
Lucknow: A woman's headless, naked body was found on a national highway near Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur town triggering a massive hunt to trace the severed head for identification the deceased.
According to police sources here, the body was found dumped on the side of the highway at Gujaini near Kanpur on Wednesday.
Police officials in Kanpur said that they were examining the CCTV footage in nearby areas to ascertain the identity of the woman.
A police official said that a woman of a similar build was seen walking along the highway during the early hours of Wednesday. The body was found on Wednesday morning.
Police said that the body was sent for postmortem examination. There was also a possibility that the head was severed after the woman was killed, they added.
On whether she might have been raped, the police officials said that it could be confirmed only after the postmortem.
Sources said that the police were also working on the theory that the woman might have been killed somewhere else and her body was dumped on the highway. The head might have been severed to prevent identification of the body, they added.
No missing report was filed in nearby police stations, sources said.
Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav slammed the BJP government in the state over what he said were rising crimes against women.
‘’An impartial probe should be conducted into this heinous crime rising above political affiliations... concrete steps must be taken to prevent crimes against the women,’’ Akhilesh said in a post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter).