The husband of a 30-year-old woman whose body was found in a rubbish bin outside Melbourne was reportedly on her parents’ doorstep in India, fell to his knees and expressed grief over her death.
The body of Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani was found in a green waste container on Mount Pollock Road in Buckley, west of Geelong, Victoria, at noon on Saturday.
By the time the body was found, her husband Ashok Raj Varikuppala had already flown to India last weekend with their four-year-old son Ayra, Victoria police have confirmed.
Ms Madhagani’s father has now claimed that Varikuppla showed up at Ms Madhagani’s family home in Hyderabad in southern India to break the news of her death: “I’m 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 surprised, shocked, numb and the tears were streaming down,” he told the Herald Sun.
Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani and her husband Ashok Raj Varikuppala married twelve years ago and share a four-year-old son. Ms Madhagani was found dead in a dustbin on Saturday
The green waste bin was found half-hidden in rural bushland
Mr Reddy said hearing of his daughter’s terrible death felt like “the sky has fallen on us”.
Their son-in-law reportedly said she died in an “unintentional” manner. 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 marriage, and 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 the family’s “internal issues” were well known to friends, describing their marriage as “love and arranged”.
“I believe they went deeper than it seems,” he said.
Ms Madhagani’s family have contacted India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the hope that their daughter’s body can be repatriated to Hyderabad, southern India.
They have asked Australian authorities for a photo of their daughter’s body but have not yet received one.
“We want to know what happened to our daughter,” Madhagani said.
Mr Varikuppala is said to have flown back to India last weekend with their four-year-old son Arya
Deepika Devara, a close friend of Ms. Madhagani, has one GoFundMe appeal to raise money so that her body can be brought to India so that the family can have a Hindu funeral, and also to provide some money for her son.
“Chaitanya was a wonderful woman and even being a better mother is what she is best known for,” Ms Devara wrote.
‘She has a heart of gold and touched the hearts of everyone she met. There was never a dull moment in her presence.”
As of Wednesday evening, the appeal had raised nearly $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 house with her husband in Point Cook, south-west Melbourne.
Friends have described Ms Madhagani (pictured) as ‘a perfect wife and a perfect mother’ who was devoted to her young son, loved ones and neighbors