Tributes paid to ‘caring mother’ after body found in wheelie bin in Australia

Indian legislator claims husband ‘confessed’ to killing his wife

Victoria police are treating the death of young mother as suspicious (AFP via Getty Images)

Tributes are being paid to a 30-year-old woman found dead in a wheelie bin on an isolated road in Victoria, Australia.

Chaithanya “Swetha” Madhagani was remembered as a “lovely” woman and caring mother by neighbours and the Indian diaspora community in Point Cook, a suburb of Melbourne.

Her body was discovered in a paddock on Mount Pollock Road in Buckley, near the town of Winchelsea, on Saturday. The woman and her husband, Ashok Raj Varikuppala, lived in Point Cook with their three-year-old son, police said.

Police are treating the woman's death as suspicious and have set up crime scenes at the site of discovery and her Point Cook home.

Investigators suspect those involved in Madhagani’s death were known to her and fled overseas.

Although the Victoria police have not confirmed whether Mr Varikuppala was a suspect in his wife's death, sources close to the investigation revealed that he flew back to India in recent days with their son, the Herald Sun reported.

A spokesperson with the Kushaiguda police station in Hyderabad city said that Mr Varikuppala visited his mother-in-law and handed over his son before leaving the city.

"No one from the family has registered any complaint against anyone yet. We will help in ­investigations if someone approaches us. As of now, we don’t know where he is as we are not investigating the case without any complaint," police inspector Veera Swamy told the newspaper.

Indian legislator Bandari Lakshma Reddy has urged the Indian foreign ministry to bring the woman’s body to Hyderabad after meeting the bereaved family.

Mr Varikuppala allegedly confessed to his in-laws to having killed his wife, the legislator claimed.

The Victoria police have scoured the victim's home for evidence and reportedly seized a luxury car.

"I’m flabbergasted," said Eric Lewis, who owns the land either side of where the woman's body was discovered. "What is happening here in Buckley, I just can’t believe it," he said, according to News.com.au.

“She was a really nice [woman] and very active in the community. She was a lovely person and a caring mother,” Raja Ramesh Reddy, whose child went to preschool with Madhagani’s, told the Guardian.

“Her sudden departure has left us all in shock. Our hearts go out to her family and the little one during this difficult time.

“It’s imperative that justice is served, and those responsible for this are swiftly held ­accountable,” he said.

Praveen Kumar Thopucherla, the executive chair of the Melbourne Telangana Forum, said the entire community was in shock after learning of Madhagani's death. "We are not able to digest this. It is too far to think or even imagine," he said.

Madhagani was described by her neighbours as a "lovely, outgoing and friendly" person, whose death shocked everyone.

“We are completely shocked … it’s just completely out of surprise for us,” a neighbour told the Herald Sun.