Chennai triple murder case: After three-day search, police recover missing Bihar woman’s body from Perungudi dump yard

After a three-day search, the police on Friday (January 30, 2026) recovered the body of a woman from Bihar at the Perungudi dump yard in connection with the triple murder case. She, along with her husband Gaurav Kumar, a migrant labourer, and their son, was allegedly murdered on January 24 in Taramani by assailants who were also from Bihar.

What is the case about?

On the morning of January 26, passersby noticed blood oozing from a gunny bag near a two-wheeler showroom on 1st Avenue, Indira Nagar, within the limits of the Adyar police station. When alerted, the police rushed to the spot.

In the bag, the police found the body of an unidentified man, aged about 25, with cut injuries to the head. The body was sent to the Government Royapettah Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

A case was registered at the Adyar police station, and the deceased was identified as Gaurav Kumar, a native of Bathiyabar village in Sheikhpura district of Bihar. It was also learnt that he had come to Chennai in search of employment along with his wife and their two-year-old son.

On January 27, based on certain suspicions, Sathyender alias Santhosh Kumar, 30, was questioned. It was revealed that he was a native of Alipur village in Nalanda district of Bihar and was employed as a daytime watchman at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) in Taramani. He got acquainted with Gaurav Kumar after the latter approached him seeking employment.

How was the crime committed?

Gaurav Kumar had been working as a security guard in Sriperumbudur previously. The police said that on January 24, promising to arrange a job for him, Sathyender allowed Gaurav Kumar and his family to stay with him on the fourth floor of a building on the institute’s campus.

Further investigation revealed that the other two accused — Lalit Yadav, 40, and Vikash Kumar, 24, also natives of Bihar — were employed as a night-time watchman at ICT and as a watchman at an apartment complex in Kottivakkam, respectively.

The police said that on the night of the incident (January 24), Gaurav Kumar, Sathyender, Lalit Yadav, and Vikash Kumar were consuming alcohol on the fourth floor of the building where Gaurav Kumar had been staying.

A quarrel broke out among them, and Sathyender, Lalit Yadav, and Vikash Kumar jointly assaulted Gaurav Kumar, his wife, and their child using iron rods, killing them. It was further revealed that the bodies were tied in gunny bags and dumped at different locations later that same night. The police also secured CCTV footage showing two suspects transporting a body on a two-wheeler before dumping it.

Sathyender, Lalit Yadav, and Vikash Kumar were arrested. After interrogation, they were produced before the court on Thursday (January 29, 2026).

Search for body

The body of the deceased child was recovered from the Buckingham Canal near Madhya Kailash. The accused had said the body of Gaurav Kumar’s wife was dumped in a garbage bin near Modern Bread, Taramani, and around 50 police personnel, along with 25 staffers from the Greater Chennai Corporation, jointly carried out an intensive search operation at the Perungudi dump yard to recover her body. The body was recovered on Friday.

Police sources said the woman’s body was in a decomposed state as it remained buried under garbage. The body was sent to the Government Royapettah Hospital (GRH) for post-mortem examination.

Doctors will determine the cause of death and examine whether she sustained any external injuries or was sexually assaulted before being murdered.

Gaurav Kumar’s body was handed over to his elder brother, Sourav Kumar, who works as a security guard at a silk saree showroom in Anna Nagar. He took the body to their native village in Bihar for the last rites.

The police said further investigation is under way to establish the sequence of events and the roles played by each of the accused in the murders. The role of two more suspects is also being investigated.

Published – January 30, 2026 04:25 pm IST