Suitcase murder case: Couple arrested in Manipur after pan-India hunt

The couple suspected of murdering a 38-year-old woman and dismembering her body before placing it in a suitcase on a train has been arrested in Manipur following a pan-India search, police said on Sunday, August 30.

Manik Uddin Laskar, 22, a native of Assam's Cachar district, and his wife Bhagabati Majhi, 21, from Odisha's Kendujhar district, were apprehended from Kashimpur in Jiribam district on August 29, police sources in Chennai said.

The arrests were made by a joint team of Manipur and Tamil Nadu Police, officials in Imphal said.

"The arrested persons are being handed over to the SHO of Guduvanchery Police Station," a Manipur Police official said.

The gruesome crime came to light on August 5 after passengers travelling on the Tamil Nadu Express noticed a strong foul smell coming from an abandoned red suitcase in an unreserved compartment when the train reached Agra station.

Government Railway Police personnel examined the suitcase and found the headless and dismembered remains of a woman. The victim was later identified through forensic examination as Hayathun Nisha, 38, a native of Odisha who was living in Guduvanchery and working at a private firm.

Investigators examining the case went through hours of CCTV footage recorded at Chennai Central railway station. The footage showed a man and a woman struggling to carry the heavy red suitcase through the station premises.

Police subsequently traced the movements of the duo to Guduvanchery and identified a rented house on Mosque Street as a key location in the investigation.

A search of the house led to the recovery of more dismembered body parts, which were found stored inside a large cooking vessel, police said.

The discovery prompted investigators to alter the case, which had initially been registered at Guduvanchery police station as a missing-person complaint, to a murder case.

Police then identified Laskar and Majhi as the prime suspects. The couple had allegedly gone into hiding after disposing of the woman's body, prompting the formation of special teams to trace them across the country.

After a prolonged search, investigators tracked the couple to Kashimpur in Jiribam district of Manipur on August 29.

The two accused will be produced before a local magistrate in Manipur, following which Guduvanchery police are expected to bring them to Tambaram on a transit warrant, police sources said.

The exact circumstances surrounding the killing and the motive behind the crime are yet to be established and will become clear after the accused are interrogated, police said.

(With inputs from PTI)