Punjab’s Patiala was jolted on Wednesday after the body of a young woman was found stuffed inside a blue-coloured plastic drum near an overbridge, the police said. According to police, they received information about the same and reached the spot, near the DCW overbridge, to make the harrowing discovery. The cops said they are treating the incident as that of a murder and a probe into the incident is underway.

Tattoos lead police to victim’s identity

Station House Officer (SHO) Gurpreet Singh said the police teams acted immediately after an alarm was raised. He said, “We reached the spot to investigate. A forensic team was called for an on-spot examination, after which the body was transported to the morgue for identification and autopsy.”

While examining the body, the cops found two tattoos on the woman's body, which eventually helped them establish her identity. She was identified as Neha, said to be in her early twenties and daughter of Sant Lal. Officials said her family belongs to UP’s Jaunpur district, but had been residing in Patiala lately.

Family had filed a missing person complaint

Soon after identification, the police contacted Neha’s family. According to police officials, her kin informed the cops that she had been missing for the past few days and that they had lodged a missing person complaint.

The police said they are now persevering in efforts to trace Neha’s final movements and identify the ones responsible for her killing. According to police, they are sifting through the CCTV footage from nearby areas for leads.

Officials have not ruled out the possibility of personal rivalry or a relationship angle behind the murder.

Rise in ‘Blue Drum’ murders raises alarm

The aforementioned case has once again brought a disturbing pattern of crimes into focus, in which bodies are concealed inside blue plastic drums. Some such incidents have grabbed national headlines over the past year.

Notably, earlier this month in Thane, a woman was arrested for allegedly murdering her lover with the help of her brother before dumping the body inside a blue drum in a drain. In another similar case reported from UP’s Lucknow, a 21-year-old commerce student allegedly killed his father, dismembered his body and concealed the severed remains inside a drum following a dispute over career choices.

The ‘blue drum murder’ phase gained notoriety nationwide after the sensational 2025 Meerut case, where a woman named Muskan killed her merchant navy officer husband Saurabh Rajput by conspiring with her paramour. The duo sealed his body inside a blue drum filled with concrete.