CHENNAI: A 27-year-old rag picker was beaten to death by her husband, who later buried her body in a garbage dump at Perumbakkam.

The murder came to light after the victim's mother filed a missing person complaint with the police.

The deceased, identified as Lakshmi, was living with her husband, Naveen, and their three children in a makeshift tent near a landfill site in Thoraipakkam.

According to police, Lakshmi's mother attempted to contact her daughter on Sunday but found her phone switched off. When she contacted Naveen, his responses raised suspicion, after which she approached the Foreshore estate police with a missing complaint.

When police summoned Naveen and questioned him, he confessed that he murdered his wife in a fit of rage and dumped her body among heaps of garbage.

Police then handed over the investigation to Thoraipakkam police, who have initiated steps to exhume the body.