- Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Members of the diaspora are planning to hold a candlelight vigil in remembrance of Chaithanya Madhagani this week.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Indian community in Geelong in the Australian state of Victoria has mourned the brutal death of an Indian woman whose body was discovered in a wheelie bin in Buckley, located west of Geelong, on Saturday (9).
According to a report by The Guardian, members of the community are planning to hold a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the victim, who they called a “lovely person and a caring mother”, this week.
Tributes poured in for Chaithanya “Swetha” Madhagani, who hailed from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, capital of the state of Telangana.
Praveen Kumar Thopucherla, executive chairperson of the Melbourne Telangana Forum that hosts cultural events to celebrate the Indian state, told The Guardian that Madhagani’s death was “an alarm” for the close-knit community.
Read: Indian woman found murdered in Australia; suspect husband flies home with son
“It is very shocking, the community is traumatised,” he was quoted as saying
“She was very active and used to participate in our community events … she was very energetic.
“Losing her is like losing my own family member because it is a very small community.”
It was reported that Ashok Raj Varikuppala, husband of the ill-fated woman, travelled back to India and left their three-year-old son Arya with Madhagani’s parents.
While Victorian Police have not said if he was a suspect, there were reports that said he “confessed” to his in-laws about killing his wife.
Raja Ramesh Reddy, whose son studies with Arya, told The Guardian that the community was disturbed by the news and called Madhagani a “lovely person and caring mother”.
He said he had just spoken to her two weeks ago and also knew Varikuppala.
“It’s just shocking for all of us,” he said. “She is in our thoughts.”
Janine Curll, regulatory manager of Ashbury Global where the deceased woman worked for three years, told ABC News that she was “a charismatic, confident, warm, and empathetic woman”.
A spokesperson for Victoria Police said there were “no further updates” related to the case at this particular moment. The attorney general’s Department, which oversees extradition orders, also did not issue any statement, The Guardian report added.
“As a matter of longstanding practice the Australian government does not disclose whether it has made, or intends to make, an extradition request to a foreign country until the person is arrested or brought before a court pursuant to that request,” a departmental spokesperson said, the report added.
