14 December,2016 07:00 AM IST | | Anurag Kamble
Having found no success in the death of Cuffe parade mystery woman, Mumbai Police turned to the MET to find out the direction in which the wind was blowing four days prior to the discovery of the body
Over a month after a woman's body was washed ashore at Cuffe Parade, the police are still groping in the dark over her identity. The partially decomposed body of the woman, believed to be in her 20s, was found around 2 km behind INHS Asvini on November 2. The police had only three clues to work with: a bed sheet stamped with the initials 'GL' in which the body was wrapped, a torn picture of the woman and a beaded bracelet found on her person.
Having found no success -- they questioned 100 relatives of missing persons as well as hotels and lodges in Mumbai and nearby places to trace the source of the bed sheet -- they turned to the meteorological department to find out the direction in which the wind was blowing four days prior to the discovery of the body, the suspected time of death.
The police suspect that the woman was killed elsewhere and that her body washed to Cuffe Parade after being dumped in the sea. According to the data provided by the meteorological department, the police suspect that the body was washed in the north to east direction.
Migrants under scanner
"Based on this, we went to Alibaug and Dabhol, which have a large migrant population from south India and the east," said a Cuffe Parade police officer.
Another investigating officer said the police initially suspected that the bed sheet belonged to a lodge or hotel. "We found a hotel in Grant Road whose name's acronym is GL. But, it said it doesn't use such high quality bed sheets."
The police have also made a list of 500 bedding traders for questioning.
Face reconstructed
Besides, they have reconstructed a facial image of the woman based on the torn photograph and have circulated it across several parts of the country, including Kerala. The police expanded its search to the south after spotting that the bracelet and the nose ring on the photograph was of south India-make.
Another officer from the Cuffe Parade police station said by the look of it, the photograph that was recovered from the body featured a couple and was torn in two. "On the part we found, the left side of the forehead and a part of the chin were missing. We reconstructed the missing parts with the help of an expert to get a complete facial image."
He cautioned that the photograph could have been left by the killer(s) to mislead the police. "We took the picture to red light areas in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, and asked police stations across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa and Gujarat to chip in. We are looking at all coastal states for clues."
