The husband of a 30-year-old woman whose body was found in a wheelie bin outside of Melbourne allegedly lobbed on her parents’ doorstep in India, dropped to his knees and expressed sorrow over her death.
Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani’s body was found stuffed into a green wheelie bin on Mount Pollock Road in Buckley, west of Geelong, Victoria at 12pm on Saturday.
By the time the body was found, her husband Ashok Raj Varikuppala had already flown to India with their four-year-old son Ayra last weekend, Victoria Police have confirmed.
Ms Madhagani’s father has now claimed that Varikuppla turned up at Ms Madhagani’s parents home in Hyderabad in southern India to break the news of her death: ‘I am sorry… Chaithanya is no more.’
Her father, Kumar Reddy, had initially thought his son-in-law and young grandson had planned a surprise visit to India – before he was hit with the devastating news of his daughter’s death.
‘We were taken aback, shocked, numb and tears were rolling down,’ he told the Herald Sun.
Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani and her husband Ashok Raj Varikuppala married 12 years ago and share a four-year-old son. Ms Madhagani was found dead in a wheelie bin on Saturday
The green wheelie bin was found semi-hidden amongst rural bushland
Mr Reddy said hearing of his daughter’s terrible death felt like ‘the sky has fallen on us’.
Their son-in-law allegedly said she died in an ‘unintentional’ way. He then left his four-year-old son at his grandparents’ house and disappeared, allegedly telling his father-in-law he was returning to Australia.
The father said the couple married 12 years ago in a ‘love marriage’ rather than an arranged one and had seemed ‘happy’ with their life in Australia.
However, close family friend Praveen Kumar Thopucherla – who has known the couple for seven years – told Daily Mail Australia that the family’s ‘internal problems’ were well known to friends, and described their marriage as ‘love and arranged’.
‘I believe those went deeper (than) it seems,’ he said.
Ms Madhagani’s family have contacted India’s Ministry of External Affairs in hopes their daughters body can be repatriated to Hyderabad, in India’s south.
They have asked Australia authorities for a picture of their daughter’s body, but have not received one as yet.
‘We want to know what happened to our daughter,’ Mr Madhagani said.
Mr Varikuppala, is understood to have flown back to India with their four-year-old son Arya last weekend
Deepika Devara, a close friend of Ms Madhagani, has organised a GoFundMe appeal to raise money for her body to be brought to India so the family can have a Hindu funeral, and also to provide some funds for her son.
‘Chaitanya was an amazing woman and even a better mom is what she is best known for,’ Ms Devara wrote.
‘She has a heart of gold and touched everyone’s hearts she met. There was never a dull moment in her presence.’
As of Wednesday night, the appeal had raised almost $13,000.
Since moving to Australia for a better life, Ms Madhagani had built a fashion business selling traditional Indian saris – a dream she said was ‘six years’ in the making.
She had bought a home with her husband in Point Cook, in Melbourne’s south-west.
Friends have described Ms Madhagani (pictured) as ‘a perfect woman and a perfect mother’ who was devoted to her young son, loved ones and neighbours