Was dead woman a maid?

Was dead woman a maid?

SINGAPORE - Mystery surrounds the identity of the headless corpse found floating in Whampoa River on Thursday morning.

But some residents at Block 34 Whampoa West, near Serangoon Road, speculate she could have been a maid.

They said they were questioned by plainclothes officers on Thursday afternoon and based their assumption on the type of questions police asked.

One of the residents, who wanted to be known only as Madam Wong, said that the officers came to her flat on the ninth floor and asked her if she had spotted any suspicious characters along the corridor.

Said the housewife, who is in her 50s and has been living there for more than 20 years: "The police also asked me if I have a maid and if any of my neighbours have one. I told them that I don't and they went next door to talk to my neighbours.

"They did not tell me why they asked such questions."

The block is located about 1km from where the corpse was found. Its hands had been hacked off.

The police have re-classified the case as a murder on Friday.

One of Madam Wong's neighbours, who gave his name as Mr Ganesan, said that the police spoke to him on Thursday afternoon and asked about his personal details.

Said the slim 65-year-old man: "I told them I came from India and I'm here to visit my family members."

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Another neighbour, who wanted to be known only as Madam Chelvi, 51, said that she was not at home when the police did their rounds.

She found out only later when a neighbour told her that some plainclothes officers had come to the block to question the residents.

"My neighbour told me that the police asked her if she had seen any suspicious characters in the neighbourhood. My neighbour did not know why they asked such questions," she said.

Besides Block 34, Chinese evening daily Shin Min Daily News reported on Friday that the police have also expanded their investigation to a nearby hostel about 300m away from where the body was found.

It houses about 200 foreign students and most of them come from Thailand, South Korea, China and Myanmar.

The paper stated that police officers viewed closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from the hostel for almost two hours.

Shin Min quoted a staff member as saying that the police asked for a copy of the CCTV footage for Thursday.

A police cordon was also spotted near the banks of Geylang River at Dakota Crescent near Dunman Road yesterday evening.

The police said they received a call at about 6pm informing them that an unknown object was found in a canal there. It turned out to be a pair of gloves.

The police said no other incriminating objects were found and no further assistance was required.

- Additional reporting by Chai Hung Yin

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