Bhubaneswar: The body of an elderly woman was found buried in a kitchen at a house in Odisha's Puri town, police said on Tuesday.

Several tenants live in the house, and when some of them got a foul smell emanating from a locked room, the landlord and police were informed, they said.

Police broke open the door and found a freshly built elevated platform under a concrete slab inside the kitchen, SP Prateek Singh said.

"The woman's body was exhumed in the presence of an executive magistrate and forensic team. It seems that the body was buried three to four days ago," he said.

Singh said preliminary investigation revealed that the woman was living in the rented accommodation with her son.

"However, the son has been absent for the past few days, and the house was locked. We suspect the man killed his mother and buried the body. Efforts are underway to apprehend him," the SP said.

Singh said the body was sent for post-mortem examination. PTI