A skeleton, presumably of a woman, covered by concrete inside a barrel was discovered by the Kochi city police near the coast of Kumbalam on Monday. The barrel was reportedly discovered from the backwaters by fishermen a few months ago but was abandoned on the coast when they noticed it was filled with concrete. This week, when locals nearby, finding the barrel suspicious, broke the concrete inside, they found remains of a skeleton. "Our preliminary finding is that the skeleton appears to be that of a woman, around 30 years of age. A piece of cloth, that looks like a salwar top, has also been retrieved. We also found Rs 1600 in demonetised notes of Rs 500. We think the murder is likely to have taken place before December, 2016," said Siby Tom, circle inspector of Ernakulam South, the investigating officer. Police believe the people behind the murder clearly did not want the barrel to be retrieved from the water. Officials think the barrel was first filled with concrete, then the body in an inverted position was lowered, and then covering it once again with concrete. The skeletal remains have been sent for postmortem at the Kalamassery Medical College and a report is awaited.
