Suspect who murdered woman found in traveling bag arrested

The individual suspected of murdering a woman and packing her body inside a travelling bag was arrested by police yesterday in Kovikulam, Mannar, police said.

The suspect is a 44-year-old man from Nallur, Jaffna. The police earlier released to the public the CCTV footage of the man carrying the bag with the body and leaving it at a bus terminal. The woman’s body found in a travelling bag at the Bastian Mawatha private bus terminal in Pettah on 29 July has been identified as that of a 34-year-old woman from Vaddukoddai, Jaffna.

Following the release of the woman’s photo to the media, the manager of an inn in Hettiyawatta, Colombo, where the woman was staying with the suspect, had come forward to provide information on her to the police. The woman’s mother had earlier identified the suspect as her paramour for the last three years. It has not been revealed how the woman died.