Over a month after a 42-year-old woman from Kerala’s Kollam district was reported missing, the police have found her body in Palakkad district. A music teacher based in Palakkad has been taken into custody after confessing to her murder, say police.

The body of Suchitra, a native of Thrikkovilvattom near Kottiyam in Kollam and a beautician by profession, was found with the legs chopped off, half-burnt and buried.

Suchitra had left her house on March 18 claiming that she was attending a training session in Kochi. Her phone was not reachable since March 20 and her family approached the Kottiyam Police Station with a missing person complaint on March 22.

Upon investigation, the police found that Suchitra had informed her employer that she was taking a five-day leave as her mother was ill.

The police then began looking into Suchitra’s phone call records and found that she was in touch with a music teacher from Palakkad named Prashant. The Hindu reported the police as saying that Suchitra was in a relationship with Prashant.

A team of Crime Branch officials from Kollam then went to Palakkad for investigation.

According to reports, Prashant allegedly confessed to have killed Suchitra and police have taken him into custody.

Police officials say Prashant had sent his family away and Suchitra had joined him at his residence on March 18. A quarrel broke out between the duo which ended with Prashant strangling Suchitra with the cable of a table lamp, killing her. To get rid of the body, Prashant chopped off both her legs and attempted to burn the body and then bury it.

After questioning Prashant, the police searched the premises of his rented house near Ramanathapuram in Palakkad and found Suchitra’s dead body. Her body was sent to the Palakkad District Hospital for post-mortem.