CHENNAI: A 75-year-old woman’s body was found stuffed inside a sack and abandoned on a roadside at Mukkanni Amman Koil Street in Trisulam near Pallavaram on Thursday, prompting an investigation by the Pallavaram police. The deceased was later identified as Bhakhyalakshmi, a flower vendor from the same locality on Friday.
Residents alerted police after noticing a foul smell coming from the sack lying by the roadside. When officers opened it, they found the woman’s body with her hands and legs tied. The body was later shifted to Tambaram Government Hospital for postmortem examination.
Police inquiries revealed that Bhakhyalakshmi had been living in poverty after the death of her husband over a decade ago. None of her 10 children were supporting her. She later began living with Mohamed Hassan, 65, a hotel worker from Trisulam.
Investigators said Hassan recently lost his job after several hotels in the area shut down due to a shortage of cooking gas cylinders, leaving the couple in financial distress. Bhakhyalakshmi reportedly died of illness on Wednesday.
Unable to afford funeral expenses, Hassan allegedly tied the body in a sack and abandoned it on the roadside, hoping authorities or passersby would arrange the final rites.