A month after the headless body of a woman was found in a garbage yard in Chennai, the Police have identified the body is of a television actress Sasirekha. The head was recovered from a canal near Kolapakkam, about two kilometers away, earlier this week. Police said that Sasirekha, 36, was allegedly murdered by her 34-year-old husband Ramesh and his girlfriend Lawkiiyaa, an actress and his business associate.

The accused were sent to judicial custody on Friday. Sasirekha is reported to have played a prominent character role in the yet to be released film, Naalai Mudhal Kudikka Maatein. The police started investigating the case after Sasirekha’s parents filed a complaint.

A senior police officer said Ramesh had a talent agency that promised aspiring actors roles in the Tamil film industry. “Sasirekha, a divorcee, and mother of an eight-year-old married him August 2015. But trouble began after Ramesh began an affair with Kashiiv, an aspiring actress. Sasirekha filed some complaints against Ramesh,” said the officer. Two complaints were filed by Sasirekha against Ramesh for allegedly kidnapping her son and domestic violence.

But curiously, Sasirekha, Ramesh and Kashiiv later lived together. “Interrogations reveal that Sasirekha was finally murdered by Ramesh and Kashiiv on January 4. Ramesh and Lawkiiyaa told the police they killed Sasirekha and dumped the dismembered body in two places. Investigators say Ramesh and Lawkiiyaa had been living together since 2012.

He projected Lawkiiyaa as an actor of his upcoming movie and cheated many people collecting huge sums of money by promising them a role in his movies. “When we started the probe, Ramesh was the first target as he himself was missing. We finally traced him and Kashiiv at a house in Valasaravakkam, after tracking his phone over a few days. With their help, we recovered the head from the canal,” said the officer.