25-year-old woman’s headless body found inside cottage in Matheran

The victim was caught in a CCTV camera at Matheran station; (right) the accused

The headless body of a 25-year-old woman was found inside a cottage at Matheran on Sunday by a cleaner. The woman's boyfriend, who had visited the cottage with her, is the main suspect and is currently absconding, the police said.

Neither the woman nor the accused have yet been identified as they had used fake documents while checking in at the hotel. Matheran police have registered a case.

The incident came to light on Sunday morning around 11.30 when the police received a call from the cottage at Indira Nagar about the murder. Sub-Inspector Sanjay Bangar of Matheran police station told mid-day, "We received a call from the cottage at 11.30 am that a woman was murdered inside the cottage. We rushed to the spot and found a headless body. The room was cleaned." No murder weapon was found.

A police source said, "The couple had arrived at the cottage at 6.30 pm on Saturday and booked a room for the night. They allegedly did not step out of their room in the night and the accused was seen running out of the cottage around 6.30 am. He closed the door from outside and fled. When we verified the documents they used for booking, we learnt that they were fake."

The police have found CCTV footage of the couple from Matheran station wherein the woman was seen wearing a blue and white salwar kurti and the man in a black and white t-shirt and blue jeans. The accused was also seen carrying a bag.

Cops say

The police are of the view that the murder was pre-planned and that the accused was aware that the cottage did not have CCTV cameras or that it did not verify the documents. They suspect the accused had visited the place before to plan the murder and how to escape. The accused had also cleaned the room and removed the bedsheet.

Police have formed four teams to identify and nab the accused.