NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Detectives investigating the murders of 19 people -- mostly children -- near a house on the outskirts of New Delhi said late on Monday a new search had found more than 40 polythene bags filled with body parts.
In a case which has shocked and horrified India, human remains were dug up last month from the backyard and drain of a rich, well-connected businessman's house in Noida, a satellite of the Indian capital.
The owner of the house was arrested along with his servant on suspicion of kidnapping, rape and murder. They have not been charged.
"Biomaterials packed in more than 40 polythene bags have been recovered from the drain in front of the house of the accused persons," said a statement from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
"In addition, pieces of human bones have been recovered ... the seized materials have been sent to the laboratory for post mortem, individualization and DNA extraction."
The investigation into the murders was taken over by the CBI five days ago after local police were accused by parents of ignoring reports about their missing children -- some of whom disappeared more than two years ago.
Six policemen have been sacked and three suspended, accused of negligence in handling the case.
The CBI said since taking over, they had registered 19 cases relating to the kidnapping, rape and murder of children and women. Some 41 people have been reported missing from the area.
All of the victims and those still reported missing come from impoverished families, many of whom are migrant laborers, who say their complaints by police were not taken seriously because they are poor.
CBI officials were cautious to suggest that the new discovery meant the death toll from killings suspected to have been committed over the past two to three years was higher.
"It's difficult for us to say that the new find means there are more people that have been murdered as the parts could belong to the 19 cases already known about," said a CBI official, who refused to be named.
"We can't say for sure until all the DNA and forensic tests have been made."
Over the past few days, CBI forensic teams have been inspecting in and around the lavish two-story house and excavators have been digging up drains where investigators believe the majority of the cut up bodies were stuffed.
The CBI said forensic tests of all the skeletal remains discovered would help link them to the missing people and that relatives of the missing and other connected witnesses were being questioned to establish the sequence of events.
