May 25, 2009, 9:12 GMT
New Delhi - Authorities found nearly 100 human skulls and skeletal remains in a dried-up pond in India's northern city of Aligarh, news reports said Monday.
The remains were spotted three days ago by children playing near the pond adjacent to a mortuary, as the water started drying up in the summer heat.
Ninety-eight skulls and some skeletons were subsequently recovered by the authorities in Aligarh, situated 120 kilometres south-east of national capital New Delhi.
According to the Indian Express newspaper, an investigation by doctors revealed that there were suture marks on the skulls that indicated the bodies had gone for post-mortem since such marks were usually made during the procedure.
The remains likely belonged to bodies of unclaimed corpses brought to the mortuary, but the police launched an investigation, other media outlets reported.
Administration officers and locals said the remains could be those of unidentified people killed in accidents and road crashes.
The police had failed to do the last rites properly since money allotted for the purpose was not enough, they said.
Senior police officer Ashim Arun told the Times of India daily that although there were skulls which confirmed the bodies had undergone autopsy, there were some which appeared completely intact with no marks of sutures on them.
'Hence, we decided to get it probed through experts and formed two teams comprising police and forensic experts to establish the time when the victims died and if the recovered skulls had undergone autopsy,' Arun told the Times.
He said the reports by the two teams were expected to be received over the next few days.
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