Dentist’s body found in suitcase

Melbourne, March 6

A 32-year-old Indian-origin woman dentist, who went missing under mysterious circumstances, has been murdered, with her body bearing numerous stab wounds found dumped in a suitcase in Sydney.

The Indian-origin man suspected of murdering the Sydney dentist, Preethi Reddy, whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase in her car parked in a street, is also a dentist and her ex-boyfriend Harsh Narde, police said.

Narde died after his BMW car collided with a truck on the New England Highway on Monday night, a day after his ex-girlfriend was reported missing.

The head-on collision, around 340 km from where Reddy’s body was found, is believed to have been deliberate, they said. 

Police spoke to Narde, in his 30s, before his death. They said the investigation was in its early stages.

“I cannot qualify exactly what has happened and I won’t put it out there because if we’re wrong and it’s not substantiated, then we’re doing a disservice to Preethi and her family,” said Detective Superintendent Gavin Dengate.

“At this stage we know they met up in Sydney and now we’re looking at all the movements between these two,” the officer was quoted as saying. Reddy’s body, which was stabbed numerous times, was found in a car parked in Kingsford on Tuesday, days after she went missing from Sydney’s busiest area under mysterious circumstances. 

She bought two bottles of water before leaving, walking south towards Market Street, where Reddy was staying at a hotel with a man known to her. Reddy was attending a dental conference in St Leonards at the weekend and last spoke to her family around 11 am on Sunday.

She told them she would head home after breakfast, and when she failed 

to return, her family contacted the police. The police described Reddy’s disappearance as “out of character”. It is thought that Reddy may have gone to Narde’s hotel to reaffirm that their relationship was truly over.

Friends of Reddy say after the break-up several years ago, she was very firm that it was over and did not want to see Narde anymore. Investigators believe that Narde did not accept that, and had attended the weekend conference purely in order to see her. Reddy’s work colleagues said they were “terrified” and had been unable to sleep since her disappearance.

Narde had graduated from a Bangalore university in 2009 and worked at Oasis Smiles Dental in Tamworth. — PTI