According to police officers, they received a call on Thursday morning that a body had drifted ashore. When they reached the spot, residents told them that the woman — who appeared to be 30 to 35 years old — might have drowned in some other area and her body had been washed ashore at the spot as she did not appear to be from the locality.

The police are not ruling out the possibility of murder. “There were no injury marks on the body but bloodstains on the woman’s face. We have sent the body for post-mortem examination to Cooper Hospital to ascertain if she died due to drowning or was killed,” said S Choudhary, senior police inspector of Santacruz police station.

“We have contacted all police stations near the Mumbai coastline to find out whether there was a missing person’s complaint lodged for the woman.”

Officers probing the case believe that since the spot where the body was found is isolated, it might be viewed as a good spot by killers to dump bodies. The police have alerted the residents to keep a watch on the spot, especially at night, and to inform them if any suspicious person is spotted in the vicinity. The police also plan to increase patrolling in the area.

“We are taking the help of residents to secure the beach and keep a watch. Since all four bodies were found near the same spot, we have reason to believe that the assailants dump the bodies after killing the person,” said an officer, who did not wish to be named.

This is the fourth body to be found in the same area in the past year. On May 31 last year, the decomposed body of an unidentified man, around 25 years old, was found at Juhu Koliwada beach. The body had drifted ashore and though the Santacruz police believe it might be a case of drowning, they are still making attempts to ascertain his identity.

The Santacruz police are also trying to find out the identity of a woman whose body was found in a suitcase at the same spot on March 10 last year. Her mouth was gagged with a piece of cloth and her hands and legs were tied with a rope. Nobody had come forward to claim the body.