A decomposed body of a man was found in the shallow watery area besides Nag river canal, underneath the railway bridge, near Mokshadham on Ghat road, Nagpur, on Wednesday morning. Subsequently, hundreds of anxious people gathered around the area, causing a huge traffic jam on the road.

The unidentified body, which was taken out of the Nag river canal by rescuer Jagdish Khare and his team, was found in a swollen and quasi-dissolved state. Assumptions started flying thick and fast by the passer-byes and the dwellers of the nearby areas, who said, The deceased must have been murdered and the body was thrown by the perpetrators in the water.

When Nation Next spoke to police constable Prashant Gajbhiye, who was present on the spot, he said, We got the information at around 10:30 am. When we came here, we found that the body was lying in the flowing water between the bushes in the canal. The body was so stiff that rescuer Jagdish Khare and his team had to carry the body on bamboo sticks to take it out of water. We are taking the body to Mayo hospital, where postmortem will be held. We?ll carry out further investigation on the basis of the postmortem reports.

Senior officials at Ganeshpeth police station are still investigating the case, and an FIR is yet to be registered.

Durgaprasad Chaubey, one of the rescuers, told Nation Next, It is difficult to comment on what must have happened with the deceased. But looking at the state of the body, we assume that it has been lying there since 20 odd days as it’s completely decayed.

Local residents of Ganeshpeth area were fuming in anger as they claimed that such criminal incidents have become the order of the day in the area. A visibly upset woman, on the condition of anonymity, told Nation Next correspondent, Murders happening in this area is a common affair. We women are afraid of getting out of our houses in the evening as we fear encounters with chain snatchers. Due to increased crime rate in this particular area, we demand that a police station should be set up on this road. At least, a police patrolling van should always be present for our safety.