Maid's decomposed body found in army colonel's house

The highly decomposed body of a maid was on Thursday recovered from the servants' quarter of an army Colonel in Assam's Jorhat district, police said.

The body of Moonmoon Saikia was recovered from the servants' quarter at the two-storeyed premises of Lt. Col. S. Sood, a doctor with the Indian Army, at the Air Force Colony at Rowriah in the district.

Police said the room was locked from outside.

The girl used to work with the family of Sood, who was living there with his wife and daughter.

According to the family members, the girl did not turn up for domestic work since Tuesday.

The house has two separate enclosures. While the family lived on the upper floor, the maid was living alone in a room below.

"The family told us they checked the room downstairs but it was locked. The neighbours detected a foul smell today (Thursday) and intimated us. When we broke open the door, we found the body. The body bore a slit mark on its throat, indicating murder," a police official said.

"The family members told us Sood has been in Kolkata for the last five days for some work," he said.

The official said they were waiting for the post-mortem examination report.