A woman's decomposed body was found stuff inside a plastic drum at a train station in India.

An investigation was launched to nab the suspect or suspects behind the death after the body was dumped at the Yeshwantpur train station in Bengaluru, a large metropolitan city in the southern state of Karnataka.

The gruesome discovery was made Wednesday morning after a member of the cleaning staff noticed a foul smell emanating from the drum left at the train station. The large plastic container also had clothes stuffed inside and was covered with a lid, News18 reported.

Officials were informed about the discovery and arrived at the scene to find the body, which was described as highly decomposed.

"The cleaning staff found the decomposed body inside a box on platform number 1. A team of forensic experts is at the railway station. An investigation is on," Kusuma Hariprasad, Additional Divisional Railway Manager (Bengaluru) for South Western Railway was quoted as saying by NDTV.

The victim appeared to have been strangled with a white cloth, and her body was found underneath the clothes found inside the drum. The woman's identity was not immediately clear, but details about her description were released.

"Appearance of deceased: Female, aged about 30 years, 5 feet height, normal built, decomposed body ... " said a press note released by officials, according to Hindustan Times.

"Efforts to trace the unidentified body is carried out. Requested to report any information regarding this unidentified female body and any missing case registered," the note added.

A dog squad was part of the team of investigators searching the area, who also sought surveillance footage as part of the investigation.

The death is being investigated as a homicide. Officials are also looking at the possibility that the woman was murdered in a different city or another state before her body was dumped at the Bengaluru station.

"After the post-mortem, the doctors have confirmed that it's a murder. We have formed two teams for investigation," a police official said, as quoted by News18. "She looks like a north Indian, so we're checking trains coming from north India and also sending our officials to residences of North Indians here to check if there are any missing complaints and collecting details."

Representational image (Police line)
Representational image (Source: Pixabay / ValynPi14)