Former model Divya Pahuja's body which was recovered on Saturday from a canal in Haryana's Fatehabad district, 11 days after she was shot dead at a Gurugram hotel, was identified by a tattoo on her back, sources said.
"The body in a decomposing state was recovered from the Bhakra canal in Tohana," Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Varun Dahiya said.
A clue regarding the whereabouts of the body was revealed after the arrest of Balraj Gill, who along with his associate Ravi Banga had fled with Divya's body.
With the help of 25 teams of NDRF, the police launched a search for the body from Patiala to Khanauri in Fatehabad.
The police sent a photo of the body to Divya's family, following which they identified it to be hers due to the tattoo, the sources said.
After the confirmation, the police took possession of the body.
Divya was shot dead in room number 111 of the City Point Hotel near the Gurugram bus stand on January 2.
According to the police, Divya and Abhijeet Singh, the owner of the City Point Hotel, were in a relationship and the latter her in a fit of rage after she refused to delete some of his objectionable photos from her mobile phone.
Balrajhad earlier said that he along with Ravi had thrown Divya's body into the Bhakra Canal near Patiala, Punjab.
It is speculated that the dead body might have washed away into Haryana.
Balraj is being brought to Gurugram on a three-day transit remand.
He disclosed that after throwing the body into the Bhakra Canal, they abandoned the BMW used in the crime at the Patiala bus stand.
According to police sources, Balraj revealed that on the night of January 2, he and Ravi had left Gurugram with the body in the BMW.
After they abandoned the car in Patiala, they first went to Udaipur in a taxi.
After this, the police traced both the accused and found out that they were staying in a hotel in Udaipur.
By the time the police team reached Udaipur, both the accused escaped from there and returned to Chandigarh.
From Chandigarh, Balraj and Ravi boarded a train and reached Howrah, following which they parted ways
On Thursday, a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued by the Gurugram Police for Balraj and Ravi amid the possibility of them fleeing abroad.
The very next day, the airport police arrested Balraj from Kolkata.
Ravi, however remains absconding.
The others that have been arrested in the case are Abhijeet, his aides Om Prakash, Hemraj, and a woman Megha, who help the main accused to discard the murder weapon documents and other personal belongings of the victim.
(Except for the headline, this story, from a syndicated feed, has not been edited by Odishatv.in staff)