LUCKNOW, Dec. 2 -- Alarm spread through Gomti Nagar's upscale Vishal Khand-2 on Monday morning after locals discovered that a woman, who appeared to be calmly sitting against a wall near the residence of a former IAS officer, was, in fact, dead.

For several hours, passersby assumed that she was merely resting until her state aroused suspicion, and the police were called in.

The woman's body had been placed upright over a roadside drain, giving the illusion that she was sitting. Police officers who were at the spot said the posture was "highly unusual" and strongly suggested that the body had been discarded there sometime during the dark hours.

"Gomti Nagar police station has sent the dead body to the mortuary. Efforts are being made to...