Man’s head, body parts recovered from temple tank; ex-wife remanded

CHENNAI: After searching for a week, the police recovered the head and other body parts of a 29-year-old man from Chennai, who was allegedly murdered in Pudukkottai by his estranged wife, who also chopped his body and buried them near the beach and a temple pond in Kovalam.

The police had been searching for the head of Jayanthan of Villupuram since last Sunday after his wife, Bagyalakshmi (38), confessed to the crime.

Jayanthan was working with a private airline at the Chennai airport and was staying with his sister in Nanganallur. On March 18, he told his sister that he would be travelling to Villupuram directly from work.

After Jayanthan failed to return home even after two days and his mobile phone remained switched off, his sister filed a complaint at the Pazhavanthangal police station. Tracking the mobile phone signals, the police found Jayanthan had travelled to Pudukkottai.

The police special team went to Pudukkottai on April 1 and detained Bagyalakshmi, a sex worker. After questioning her, police said Bagyalakshmi chopped Jayanthan’s body into pieces and carried them in a bag and suitcase to Kovalam on March 20 and 26, and buried it in the locality.

Officials searching the temple pond

Jayanthan reportedly became friends with her in 2020 through a sex worker racket and got married to her secretly in Villupuram. A year later, she got separated and returned to her earlier profession. On March 19, Jayanthan is believed to have travelled to Pudukkottai to meet Bagyalakshmi where she allegedly murdered him after a fight.

Last week, the police had recovered some body parts from Kovalam beach but the head and a few other parts were missing. Late on Sunday, they managed to recover them from a pond near Kovalam. They were sent to the Chengalpattu GH. As a DNA test has to be performed to confirm the identity, the police have asked his blood relatives to come to the hospital.

On Sunday night, Bagyalakshmi was remanded in judicial custody. The police are also searching for Shankar of Pudukkottai and Velmurugan, a temple priest in Kovalam, who allegedly helped her to bury the body.