Man finds six-month-old dead body hidden under bed in new flat

Police launch investigation after mummified corpse found in mattress and wrapped with cotton blanket

The city of Bhopal in India's Madhya Pradesh state (Suyash Dwivedi/Wikimedia)

A man who moved into his new home in India reportedly found a corpse hidden in a box underneath the bed.

Ramvir Singh Rajput bought a third-floor flat in the city of Bhopal in July 2018, but had not been able to gain access until Sunday, when he made the gruesome discovery, the Hindustan Times reported.

He told authorities he had bought the property from a government worker and her son.

After the sale the pair asked for extra time to vacate the property and he complied, according to the report. Later he could not contact them and whenever he went to the flat, he found it locked.

Mr Rajpuyt eventually had a duplicate key made to gain entry. He hired cleaners to prepare his new home and it was during this process that the body was found.

The mummified corpse had been kept on a mattress and wrapped with a cotton blanket, among other clothes inside the bed box. Apart from the arms and legs, no other body parts were intact.

Neighbours said the previous owners have not been seen since June 2018.

It is not certain whether the recovered body belongs to a man or a woman.

Police superintendent Sampat Upadhyay told the Hindustan Times an investigation was underway.

“Everything will become clear after the post-mortem and DNA test. We are searching for the flat owners as only they will be able to reveal how the body reached here,” he said.

“Prima facie it appears to be a case of murder. The body had long hair, so we are suspecting it to be that of a woman.”