Chennai: Tamil Nadu police have achieved a key breakthrough by apprehending the prime suspects in the brutal murder and dismemberment of a 38-year-old woman whose body parts were discovered packed in a suitcase aboard a train earlier this month.

The suspects, 22-year-old Manik Uddin Laskar and his wife Bhagabati Majhi, were arrested at Kashimpur in Manipur’s Jiribam district following an extensive multi-state manhunt, police sources confirmed Sunday.

Investigators said the grim crime came to light on 5 August when passengers aboard the Tamil Nadu Express reported an overpowering stench from an unattended red suitcase in an unreserved coach after the train arrived at Agra station.

Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel inspected the baggage and recovered the decapitated, dismembered remains of an unidentified woman.

Subsequent investigations and forensic tests identified the deceased as Hayathun Nisha, 38, a native of Odisha.

Detectives systematically reviewed hours of CCTV recordings from Chennai Central railway station, eventually spotting a man and a woman wheeling the heavy red suitcase across the station premises.

Tracing the couple's movements back to the suburbs of Chennai, police located a rented property on Mosque Street in Guduvanchery.

A search of the residence uncovered further disturbing evidence, as officers discovered additional dismembered body parts kept inside a large cooking pot.

Though the case was initially opened as a missing person investigation at Guduvanchery police station, authorities promptly escalated the charges to murder following the discoveries.

Police quickly identified the suspects as Manik Uddin Laskar, originally from Cachar district in Assam, and his wife Bhagabati Majhi, from Kendujhar district in Odisha.

The couple fled into hiding shortly after disposing of the remains, prompting a nationwide search operation by special police units.

On 29 August, officers tracked the fleeing couple to Kashimpur in Manipur's Jiribam district, where they were detained.

The pair will appear before a local magistrate in Manipur, after which Guduvanchery police will escort them to Tambaram on a transit warrant for further questioning, at which point the motive behind the killing is expected to be determined, police sources added.

PTI