Missing Indian-origin woman's body found in suitcase in Australia

A 32-year-old dentist of Indian origin in Australia, who went missing earlier this week, has been murdered and her body was found dumped in a suitcase in her abandoned car, the police said.

Preethi Reddy, 32, was reported missing by her family on Sunday after she did not come home from a dental convention in St. Leonards, a suburb of Sydney, CNN affiliate 7 News Australia reported.

According to the police, Reddy was murdered as her body bore several stab wounds. The man who was suspected of killing the woman was her Indian-origin ex-boyfriend and dentist Harsh Narde. Police officials said the man died in a car crash on the New England Highway on Monday night, a day after Reddy was reported missing.

They say that the head-on collision, which occurred around 340 km from where Reddy's body was found, was a "deliberate act." According to the police, they spoke to Narde as part of the missing persons investigation before his death.

"I cannot qualify exactly what has happened and I won't put it out there because if we're wrong and it's not substantiated then we're doing a disservice to Preethi and her family," Detective Superintendent Gavin Dengate told ABC News.

"At this stage we know they met up in Sydney and now we're looking at all the movements between these two," the officer said.

Preethi was captured on CCTV inside McDonald's at the Strand Arcade in central Sydney about 2.15 a.m. on Sunday and appeared to leave alone.

On Tuesday, the police located her car parked on a street in Kingsford, south of the city centre. A search of the vehicle located Reddy's body in a suitcase. She had been stabbed "numerous times," they said.

"Further inquiries have established that Preethi (Reddy) stayed at a hotel on Market Street, Sydney CBD, on Sunday with a man known to her," the police said.

Reddy was attending a dental conference in St. Leonards and last spoke to her family at around 11 a.m. on Sunday, saying she planned to head home after having a late breakfast, according to the police.

Glenbrook Dental Surgery, where Reddy had worked and which had been appealing for information about her disappearance, said staff were "in mourning" after news of her death.

Numerous patients of Reddy posted messages of condolences for her family on the surgery's Facebook page.

--IANS

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