Chopped body parts suspected to be of a child have been found near a railway track in Thane district of Maharashtra, a police official said on Monday.

Kalyan police received information on Sunday evening about some body parts lying in the bushes near the railway track in Titwala area, he said.

The police reached the spot and seized the highly decomposed head and legs, believed to be of a child around 10 to 12 years of age whose gender was yet to be ascertained, the official at Kalyan police station said.

The other body parts were still missing, he said, adding that a gunny bag was also found near the spot.

The official said they suspect that the culprit killed the child, chopped the body into pieces, packed them in the bag and threw it from a running train.

Efforts were on to identify the body, he said.

A case was registered for murder and causing disappearance of evidence of offence and a search for the killer was on, he said.