A skeleton has been discovered from a flat that remained closed for the past two years at Baguihati in north Kolkata. The discovery was made when the landlord started cleaning and repair work at his property, which was rented five years ago by a Nepalese couple, according to police.

The landlord, Gopal Mukherjee, a homeopathy doctor, found the skeleton inside a large plastic drum sealed with cement on Tuesday.

“We have recovered the skeleton and sent it for postmortem. Only after conducting the postmortem, the sex of the skeleton will be ascertained. The cause and time of death will also be ascertained after that. We are trying to establish the identity of the deceased,” Biswajit Ghosh, deputy commissioner (headquarters) of the Bidhannagar police, told The Indian Express.

According to the police, the Nepali tenants, who rented the flat in 2018, locked it two years ago and left but continued to pay the rent. “As the landlord did not receive any rent for the past six months, he decided to break the lock and clean the flat. The discovery was made during the cleaning on the premises,” said an officer of the Bidhannagar police.

Mukherjee told reporters that the couple were in their 30s. According to the police, the landlord is cooperating with the investigation by sharing the rent agreement and contact details of the tenants. They said the couple’s mobile phone was switched off.