Ajmer/Jalandhar, April 11
The murder of a young woman, whose body was put in a large parcel box dispatched from Delhi to Ajmer, has left the police of two states baffled.

The parcel was sent through a transport firm and was found by workers of the company on April 8 in their Madanganj- Kishangarh (Ajmer) office after a foul smell started emanating from it. "The body could not be identified so far. Our team is in Delhi and trying to ascertain her identify with the help of cops there,” SHO Madanganj Narendra Singh said. “The team contacted the transport company, which had booked the parcel but its employees do not have proper information about the sender," he added.

Even as cops are struggling for a breakthrough, two families from Delhi arrived in Ajmer on Monday to identify the body. “Two families contacted us and are here to identify the body but they could not as it was defaced," the SHO said. One of the families is that of Jawahar Luthra, who is looking for his daughter, Cheena, who mysteriously disappeared from Jalandhar on March 13.

Cheena was married to Amandeep of Maqsoodan in Jalandhar in March 2008 and migrated to Italy shortly afterwards. She had come to India in January with her husband and daughter. However, after her husband flew back to Italy in February, she “disappeared” on March 13 from Jalandhar. Cheena’s in-laws lodged an FIR in this connection with the police on the same day.

However, after reaching Ajmer, Luthra could not identify the body as it was badly putrefied. He then requested for a DNA test, to which the police agreed.

Talking to The Tribune from Ajmer, he said the body was beyond recognition. “It’s mutilated and has badly shrunk. Except the shoe size and the unpierced nose, we could not establish any other similarity. As the body has shrunk, the weight, height and other morphological features also don’t provide any clue. We have requested a DNA test,” said Luthra. Meanwhile, Cheena’s in-laws have rubbished reports of someone from their family going to Ajmer to claim the body. Hardev Singh Dhillon, Cheena’s father-in-law, said the girl’s parents have gone to Ajmer. “Cheena stayed with us for a very short span. So, we cannot identify her body,” claimed Dhillon. (Inputs from Amaninder Pal in Jalandhar)