Two arrested in Manipur over suitcase murder
A couple, who are believed to be the principal suspects in the murder of Hayathun Nisha, a 38-year-old woman from Odisha, were arrested by a joint team of Tamil Nadu and Manipur Police. The woman’s body was discovered in a suitcase on a long-distance train earlier this month. The arrests occurred on August 29 in Kashimpur, in the Jiribam district of Manipur, following a joint search launched after the luggage was abandoned at Agra station.
On August 5, 2026, passengers on Train number 12621 (Tamil Nadu Express) reported a strong odour from an unattended red suitcase in an unreserved coach at Agra Cantt. Government Railway Police recovered the headless, dismembered remains of an unidentified adult female. Liaison with Tamil Nadu railway police established that the suitcase had been placed on the train at Chennai Central on August 3.
The forensic examination and DNA analysis proved that the deceased was Hayathun Nisha, 38, who had originally come from Odisha; she had been residing in Guduvanchery and employed at a private company. A report for a missing person had already been submitted to the police station in Guduvanchery. When additional remains were discovered at a local address, the case was changed to one of murder. Scene examination.
The officers reviewed more than 350 hours of CCTV footage from Chennai Central and suburban locations.
The footage revealed a man and a woman who were carrying identical red suitcases; the pair’s movements led them to a rented house on Mosque Street in Guduvanchery. When the house was searched, further dismembered remains were found in a large cooking vessel. Neighbours stated that a man and two women from outside the state had lived there and left shortly after August 3.
The two people shown on camera were identified as Manik Uddin Laskar, 22, from Dakshin Krishnapur, Sonabarighat, Cachar district, Assam, and Bhagabati Majhi, 21, from Kendujhar district, Odisha. They had both been at the rented house with the victim and left the Chennai area after the suitcase had been loaded onto the train. A multistate search was conducted to nab them. The special teams from the Guduvanchery/Tambaram City Police first used mobile signal traces to trace the suspects to Odisha, where they were not found. Further tracking brought them to Kashimpur in the Jiribam district of Manipur, close to the border with Assam.
On August 29, both suspects were arrested by a joint Manipur-Tamil Nadu task force. Assistance from the Cachar police was obtained for the investigation on the Assam side. The search continued for 24 days after the items were recovered.
The investigation covered five States: Uttar Pradesh (where the first recovery took place), Tamil Nadu (where the alleged offence occurred), Odisha (the victim’s home state and where the initial search took place), Assam (the origin of one of the accused), and Manipur (the place of arrest).
The Agra GRP contacted the Chennai railway police. The video footage from the station and the search of the house established that the investigating authority should be Guduvanchery. Details regarding the suspect were shared among the various forces via shared CCTV, inter-state co-operation, and a national criminal records search.
The two named suspects are currently in custody and will be taken to Tamil Nadu for questioning. The motive has not been established, and unofficial claims of a personal quarrel have not been confirmed. The case went from involving the recovery of an unidentified body on a train to including arrests of named individuals in a different State.
The continuity was based on the handover from the railway to the city, video analysis, a house search, and a joint arrest carried out under the inter-state pursuit and transit-remand procedure. Further facts will be recorded once the evidence has been produced in Tamil Nadu.
