CHENNAI: Police on Friday recovered the body of a woman from an empty plot near an abandoned factory. Police sources said that the body was in a decomposed state, and the identity is yet to be ascertained.

On Friday morning, passerby alerted the police after a foul stench emanated from the bushes in the ground. Police found the body and sent it to the government hospital for post-mortem.

They are awaiting autopsy results to ascertain the cause of death. “There seems to be some injury marks on the body, so we suspect murder. It’s unclear if she was sexually assaulted,” a police officer said. “She appeared to be in her early 30s.”

Ambattur police have alerted the stations in nearby jurisdictions to see if they have registered any ‘missing woman’ complaints in the recent past, which matched the description of the dead woman.