The horrific torture, gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old Dalit woman has sent shockwaves across Haryana's Rohtak, bringing back memories of the brutal Delhi rape of a young woman on a bus in December, 2012. The woman's mutilated body was found by her family on 11 May after she went missing for two days, and such was the state of her body, that she could only be identified through her clothes.

Her post mortem report last night revealed horrific details of the torture she had undergone at the hands of an accused she had allegedly slapped and refused to marry. The police, on arresting Sumit, 24, one of the two accused in the rape and murder, found out the details of the crime. Sumit and Vikas (28), who were arrested for possessing illegal weapons, allegedly confessed to Sonipat SP Ashwin Shenvi that they had smashed the woman's face with bricks in an attempt to hide her identity.

According to her autopsy, the bones of her skull were shattered into pieces and "some sharp-edged objects may have been inserted in her private parts", PTI reported.

"The findings suggest that it was a brutal rape and murder," Dr SK Dhatterwal, head of the department of forensic medicine at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) in Rohtak, who conducted the post-mortem examination, told PTI. The Haryana Police has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. Police also said that the family of the victim suspected the involvement of six more persons, out of whom five were related to Sumit.

The autopsy report said that that her "oesophagus (food pipe) was missing and gnawing effects were seen over chest. Her face, tongue, eyes and ears were totally distorted. He face was not identifiable."