The police on Wednesday said they had established the identity of the woman, whose mutilated body was found in a suitcase in north Chennai a few days ago.
The police said the victim was identified as M. Amitha Bibi (55), a resident of DPK Street in Old Washermenpet. She was involved in property brokerage and securing houses on rent for tenants for a commission, the police said.
Bibi was the sole bread winner for the family as her husband, S. Mubarak, is unemployed. Bibi had gone missing on March 17. However, her family did not raise an alarm as they were under the assumption she was visiting one of their relatives’ homes in the neighbourhood.
“The couple used to fight each other often and Bibi used to go to her relative’s house in the neighbourhood and use to return in the evening,” said K. Devaraj, inspector (law & order), Washermenpet police.
After Bibi failed to turn up a day later, her family filed a ‘missing’ complaint with the Washermenpet police on March 23. Two days later,a mutilated body was found in a suitcase on Apollo Armstrong Street in Madhavaram Milk Colony. A post-mortem established the age of the woman.
The police then followed up on complaints filed. As the victim had only two teeth, family members, aided by information on the clothes Bibi had worn when she was last seen, were able to identify the body.
The police suspect a dispute over property deals might have led to the killing. Police also said it could have been a murder for gain as a 3.5-sovereign gold chain was missing from her body. However, no arrests have been made and investigations are on, the police said.
