‘I am sorry for what I did, Chaithanya is no more’: Ashok Raj Varikuppala’s shock confession

The husband of a Point Cook woman whose body was found in a bin has detailed how he carried out his gruesome crime before vanishing in India.

The husband of a Point Cook woman whose body was found inside a wheelie bin confessed to her parents that he suffocated her, after turning up on their doorstep in India and dropping down to their feet to apologise.

Chaithanya “Swetha” Madhagani’s father Balshetty Madhagani said he felt like “the sky has fallen on us” in the days after learning of his daughter’s gruesome death. 

He said her husband, Ashok Raj Varikuppala, who was on Wednesday night still missing, should be jailed.

Ms Madhagani’s body was discovered in Buckley, southwest of Geelong, on Saturday, with Victoria Police remaining tight-lipped on its investigation but saying the offender “may have fled overseas”.

Ashok Raj Varikuppala has confessed to killing his wife Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani.

In an exclusive interview from his home in the southern city of Hyderabad, Mr Madhagani recounted the distressing moments when Mr Varikuppala arrived unannounced at their doorstep with their grandson last weekend.

What Mr Madhagani initially thought was a nice surprise quickly turned into a nightmare as Mr Varikuppla confessed to the unthinkable.

“I heard someone knocking on the main door of our house. I was asleep, the loud knocks woke me up and as soon as I opened the door, I saw my son-in-law and grandson at the gate,” he said.

“As soon as I put my hand on my grandson’s head, his father, Ashok, knelt, grasped my feet and started crying, saying ‘I am sorry for what I did, Chaithanya is no more, I killed her’.”

Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani was found dumped in a wheelie bin near Geelong.

Mr Madhagani said he was in shock at what he was hearing and he called for his wife to come over.

“She came out, Ashok held her feet as well and repeated the same words: ‘It happened unintentionally, I didn’t want to kill her. We had an argument, so I held her mouth and nose by my hand, and she suffocated to death’.”

According to Mr Madhagani , his son-in-law showed the way he killed his wife by placing his hand on his mouth and nose.

“We were taken aback, shocked, numb and tears were rolling down,” Mr Madhagani said.

The home of Kumar Madhagani, father of Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani.

He said that Mr Varikuppala told them he had put her body in a dustbin, before adding: “I don’t know if anyone has seen her yet or not.”

“We were devastated on hearing this, we didn’t know what was happening, my wife fell silent apart from continuously crying,” Mr Madhagani said.

Mr Varikuppala then left his four-year-old son with his grandparents and vanished.

Mr Madhagani said his son-in-law told them: “Please take care of your grandson and I am going back to Australia to surrender to police.

Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani’s death happened ‘unintentionally’, her husband Ashok Raj Varikuppala says.

“I bought him (my son) here as there was no one to take care of him there.”

Mr Madhagani added: “In this whole scenario, I didn’t know how Ashok left. We were trying to cope with the news and found that he was already out of the house.”

Mr Madhagani said his younger daughter, who lives in Perth, has been visiting them in India and she contacted the police in Australia who found the body.

The heartbroken father said Mr Varikuppala and his daughter had a “love marriage”, not an arranged one.

“Ashok and my daughter married 12 years ago. They have a 4½- year-old son. They were happy. We never heard of any marital issues between them,” he said.

“I am still trying to understand what happened. I don’t have answers.”

The grieving parents pleaded for assistance from Australian authorities.

“We had requested pictures of the body, but Australian authorities haven’t shared anything with us yet,” he said.

The family said they had also reached out to India’s Ministry of External Affairs so their daughter’s body could be brought back to India.

“I request the Australian authorities to understand our pain, our loss and share the pictures and details of the post-mortem with us,” he said.

“We want to know what happened to our daughter.”

A close friend of Ms Madhagani, Deepika Devara, has organised a GoFundMe appeal to raise money for her body to be taken back to India so the family can have a funeral in ­accordance with Hindu ­rituals.

“Her parents didn’t approve of him (Mr Varikuppala) but she wanted to be with him,” Ms Devara said.

“She loved her friends and loved her kid. Her son was her life.”

additional reporting Lauren Hutchinson