BHUBANESWAR: A red trolley bag, CCTV footage and a trail of evidence across two states helped police trace the suspected killers of a 38-year-old woman whose mutilated remains were found aboard the Tamil Nadu Express, officials said.
A team of Chennai police on Sunday launched searches at several locations across Odisha in an attempt to locate a couple suspected of murdering Hayathun Nisha, a native of Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district, and disposing of her severed remains in a suitcase on the train.
Nisha’s body parts were first recovered from a red trolley bag at Agra railway station on August 5. Further investigation led police to her rented accommodation in Guduvanchery, Chennai, where additional remains were recovered on Friday.
According to a senior Odisha Police officer, Nisha worked for a private company in Chennai and shared the rented house with Manik Uddin Laskar, a native of Assam, and Bhagabati Majhi, from Odisha.
“Believing they may have fled to Odisha, Chennai police have sought our cooperation to track them down,” the officer said.
Body parts found in train
The case came to light after railway staff at Agra station discovered decomposed and beheaded remains in the rear general compartment of Train No. 12621, Tamil Nadu Express, on August 5.
The Agra Government Railway Police registered a case and subsequently identified the victim as Nisha.
Investigators then examined CCTV footage from Platform 4 at Chennai Central with the help of the Government Railway Police and the Railway Protection Force’s Crime Intelligence Branch.
The footage reportedly showed a man and a woman boarding the train at around 10pm on August 3 with a trolley bag resembling the one in which Nisha’s remains were later discovered. The two suspects were subsequently seen getting off the train.
CCTV trail leads to rented house
Following the CCTV lead, investigators traced the couple’s rented accommodation in Guduvanchery and alerted local police.
A search of the premises on Friday allegedly resulted in the recovery of additional body parts concealed inside a large box, strengthening the police theory that the woman was murdered at the rented house before her remains were transported by train.
Chennai police are now searching multiple locations in Odisha in an effort to trace the suspected couple. The investigation is ongoing.
