COIMBATORE: A couple from Bangalore has been taken into custody by Salem police on Tuesday in connection with the murder of a girl, whose body was stuffed in a suitcase and discarded in Salem.

The couple, both software professionals in Bangalore and hailing from Odisha had murdered the girl and dumped her body in a suitcase before discarding it in a thicket along the Salem-Coimbatore National Highway in Sangagiri in Salem.

An official privy to the investigation said the victim also hailing from Odisha is suspected to be an orphan.

“She was staying in the house of the couple employed to take care of their son, aged around six years. Finding fault with her work, the couple assaulted the girl with a chappati roller resulting in her death. An inquiry is under way to ascertain any further motive behind the brutal murder,” police said.

In the suitcase retrieved on October 1, the nude body of the victim was found with a polythene cover wrapped around her face. Even during preliminary inquiry, the police suspected the victim and assailants to be from north India based on some stickers in Hindi on the suitcase.

Police said it was a complex case to be cracked as they examined several missing woman cases, tracked thousands of vehicles which passed through the way and tracked numerous mobile numbers before pinning down the culprits.