A teenager, who had gone to an empty plot to retrieve a cricket ball during a match, was shocked to discover a skeleton lying in the open in Valsad district on Wednesday evening. Police said the plot is situated behind Science College, and contains a shed used by a farmer to store agricultural equipment. The skeleton appears to be at least three months old and belongs to a female between the age of 15 and 21 and has one of the legs missing, they added. As per the police, several boys and young men (between the age of 17 and 22) were playing cricket at the ground behind the Science College at Bhagwada village on the outskirts of Valsad town. As the ball reached an open plot near the ground, a teenager went to fetch it and stumbled upon the skeleton. He immediately informed the fellow players who contacted village sarpanch Dharmesh Patel. Patel and other villagers alerted Valsad police, which arrived at the spot and took the skeleton to the Civil Hospital. Later in the day, a team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Surat reached Valsad and took samples from the skeleton as well as the spot where it was found. Valsad town police inspector S S Parmar said, “After primary examination, the FSL officials declared that the skeleton is of a female, around 14 to 21 years old. We have not found any footwear or garments at the spot. It looks like the victim died around three months ago.” He further said, “We have talked to the owner of the plot who claimed that he used to regularly visit it to check on the agricultural equipment. He said that he never sensed any foul smell in his plot.” On the identity of the victim, Parmar said, “We have checked missing persons' reports of Valsad, Navsari and Surat and found that no such female is missing there. At present it is difficult to say anything in this case; our first priority is to identify the skeleton.”
