Two arrested for murder of woman whose dismembered body was found in train

Police have arrested two persons, suspected to be the prime suspects behind the murder of a 38-year-old woman, whose dismembered body was found in a suitcase onboard the Tamil Nadu Express train in Agra earlier this month.

Manik Uddin Laskar (22), a native of Assam's Cachar district, and his wife Bhagabati Majhi (21) from Kendujhar district in Odisha were apprehended from Kashimpur in Manipur's Jiribam following a multi-state hunt, police sources in Chennai said on Sunday.

The duo were nabbed 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 crime came to light on August 5, when passengers onboard the Tamil Nadu Express noticed an unbearable smell from an abandoned red suitcase in an unreserved compartment after the train pulled into Agra station.

Government Railway Police officials inspected the luggage and discovered the headless, dismembered remains of an unidentified woman. Subsequent investigation and forensic analysis identified the victim as Hayathun Nisha (38), a native of Odisha who lived in Guduvanchery and worked in a private firm.

During the investigation, police analysed hours of CCTV footage from Chennai Central railway station, eventually spotting a man and a woman lugging the heavy red suitcase through the station premises.

Tracing their movements back to the suburbs of Chennai, police located a rented house on Mosque Street in Guduvanchery. A search of the premises revealed more horrific details, as officers recovered additional dismembered body parts stored inside a large cooking vessel.

While the case was initially registered as a missing woman's report at the Guduvanchery police station, authorities promptly altered the charges to murder following the findings.

Police swiftly identified the suspects as Laskar and Majhi, who had gone into hiding shortly after disposing of the body. Special police teams launched a pan-India search operation to trace the accused.

On August 29, officers tracked the fugitive couple to Kashimpur in the Jiribam district of Manipur.

The duo will be produced before a local magistrate in Manipur, and the Guduvanchery police will bring them to Tambaram on a transit warrant, police sources said.

The motive for the gruesome murder would be known only after they are interrogated, they added.