CHENNAI: A 78-year-old woman who was deemed missing for over 10 days was murdered, her body chopped and dumped into Adyar, police have found.

Police have detained a couple, neighbours of the deceased in Virudhunagar, in connection with the murder.

The deceased, C Vijaya, is a daily wage labourer and was living at MGR Nagar near Nesapakkam and was working at construction sites and in restaurants doing menial jobs.

Her daughter her missing on July 17. The MGR Nagar police who were probing the missing complaint had summoned the woman’s neighbour, C Parthiban, for inquiry, but he went absconding after which police suspected him of foul play.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Vijaya was murdered by her neighbour and that his wife, Sangeetha, helped him hide the body.

CCTV footage shows the couple riding a two-wheeler with a sack, which the police suspect to have contained the chopped body parts of the elderly woman.

A special team has rushed to Virudhunagar to bring Parthiban and his wife back to the city for further inquiry. Both of them are casual labourers, police said.

Efforts are under way to retrieve the dumped body parts. The motive for the murder is yet to be established.

However, police sources allege that the man murdered the elderly woman for her gold jewellery.