Indian-Australian Mother’s Body found in Wheelie Bin

Disturbing photos show the horrific scene where a young mother’s body was found inside a wheelie bin which had been left on an isolated road.

The body of Chaithanya ‘Swetha’ Madhagani was discovered just after midday on March 9, 2024, inside a green bin in Buckley, west of Geelong.

The bin spent much of the day in the heat before police arrived in the late afternoon.

Photos show the bin with a green lid half-hidden behind a bush with a large white blanket folded beside it.

Chaithanya’s body was discovered by police and it was reported that her husband Ashok Raj Varikuppala recently left Australia for India with their son.

Ashok has not been accused of wrongdoing.

He called relatives in Victoria and will cooperate with the investigation.

Two crime scenes have now been established, one on Mount Pollock Road and another 82 kilometres away at a residential address in Mirka Wat in Point Cook, Melbourne.

A police spokesperson confirmed that both scenes are connected to Chaithanya’s death.

Eric Lewis, who owns the land on either side of where the body was found, said he’d never seen a wheelie bin lying there, despite passing by it frequently.

He said: “I’m flabbergasted.

“What is happening here in Buckley, I just can’t believe it.”

Another local recalled walking in the area on March 8 and noticed a pungent smell. However, he presumed it was a dead sheep.

Friends have described Chaithanya as “a perfect woman and a perfect mother” who lived for her young son.

They said she would often cook and share food and invite people into her home.

One neighbour said she was “one of the sweetest girls ever”.

“Everyone would want to have Swetha in their lives. She was full of life — I can’t believe she’s gone.

“A life is lost it’s worse she was found somewhere else we all deserve dignity.”

Another was in “disbelief” at the news and said his son had attended a birthday party for the couple’s child.

One neighbour remembered Chaithanya as “very lovely, very outgoing and friendly”. 

She said of the mother-of-one: “She was so friendly and she adored her kid, her son.

“She was just talking about like the school and kindergartens and what to do and all those sorts of things and then she wanted to catch up regularly.”

Chaithanya was born in India but moved to Australia when she was a student.