Chennai based sex worker, Deepa, was tragically killed over a money dispute by a man who chopped her body and put them in a suitcase.
Published Sep 20, 2024 | 12:23 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 20, 2024 | 12:23 AM
Deepa, a sex worker who was murdered over money dispute in Chennai
The body of a woman was found by Chennai police on Thursday, 19 September, who swiftly started the investigation and arrested a man in his 20s on the same day. The woman, whose body was found inside a suitcase in Thoraipakkam, has been identified as Deepa from Tamil Nadu’s Pudukkottai. A sex worker by profession, she was living in Madhavaram with her family.
The accused is a graduate by the name of Manikandan, originally from Sivagangai who resides in Chennai OMR Road near the Mettukuppam Kumaran Cottage with his brother’s family.
On Wednesday, 18 September, 25-year-old Manikandan decided to invite a sex worker home since his family was out of town. He contacted the cellphone number he had received a message from and spoke with a female agent. After going through a series of photos, Manikandan picked Deepa.
Deepa, who was residing in Ponniamman Koil Street in Madhavaram, arrived at Manikandan’s house on the fateful night at 8.30 pm. Reportedly after the duo had sex, Manikandan paid ₹2,000 to the sex worker and asked her to leave the house.
However, an argument broke out when Deepa demanded that he pay her ₹12,000 more. The accused became worried that he would get into trouble if neighbours heard them arguing, and told her to leave and that he does not have more money.
This infuriated Deepa, who allegedly hit the accused. To get rid of her body before his family came back to town, Manikandan chopped her body to pieces, stuffed the body parts in a suitcase and left it in a place few 100 metres from his house.
Passerby who saw the suitcase got suspicious and called the cops. After arriving at the scene, police officials were shocked to find the body of a dead woman. On hearing the update, Chennai South Zone Joint Commissioner CP Chakravarthy and Adyar Deputy Commissioner Ponkarthik Kumar paid a visit to the crime scene and began an investigation.
A special team started combing through the CCTV cameras in the area and found an unidentified man dropping the said suitcase. Going door to door trying to identify the culprit, cops found Manikandan’s neighbour who was able to identify him from the photo.
Continuing the investigation, police officials reached Manikandan’s house at Parthasarathy Street and started questioning him. Manikandan, who got nervous at the sight of police, confessed to the brutal murder after he was asked about the blood on the stairs.
(Edited by Neena)
