OSAKA -- The mutilated body of a man has been found in a mountain area in the Osaka Prefecture city of Higashiosaka, police revealed on Jan. 29.

The man's arms, legs and head were reportedly detached from his torso. Osaka Prefectural Police have begun an investigation on suspicion of destruction and abandonment of a corpse. They are also investigating the possibility of murder.

According to the results of an autopsy conducted on Jan. 29, the body is believed to be that of a man in his 40s or early 50s and he was 135-145 centimeters tall. He is suspected to have died in late December and to have been mutilated afterward. The prefectural police are hurrying to identify the victim through DNA profiling and other means.

The first investigation division of the prefectural police said that an officer searching for a missing person found a body part on the morning of Jan. 25. After checking the surrounding area, other body parts, including the torso, were found one after another within a radius of 30 meters.

(Japanese original by Mizuki Hayashi and Tomoe Saito, Osaka City News Department)