Balasore: In a shocking incident, a sack containing human skeleton was recovered from a pond in Basta tehsil of Balasore district in Odisha here today. The incident was reported from Panisulia within Singla police limits when the village pond was being dried up for fishing purpose.

Sources said a group of villagers had gone to clean up the pond and dry it before catching fish when they stumbled upon the sack on Saturday morning. To their horror, upon opening the sack, they found a human skeleton with clothes, tucked inside it. As the news spread, a large crowd gathered at the spot. On getting information, sarpanch Prabhat Das reached the spot and informed the police who arrived and immediately started investigation.

Though the identity of the deceased is yet to be ascertained, it is being suspected that the person was murdered and then shoved into a sack before being thrown into the waterbody. The skeleton has been seized and a scientific team informed. The exact cause of death and the identity of the deceased  will be revealed only after the autopsy report arrives, police informed.