Member-only story
The Indian Ex-Army Playboy Who Was Hacked to Death
A wild tale of adultery and vengeance that shook Madras.
On August 29, 1952, the Indo-Ceylon Express steamed its way out of the Madras Railway Station, en route to Dhanushkodi. But the passengers in the third-class coach were in for an unpleasant shock that night. It started when they began to smell a foul odor coming from under a seat.
The source was a green steel trunk that had stains of a vile-smelling fluid all around it. Since the passengers found that the box had no claimants, they made a complaint to the railway police at Manamadurai and the train was detained. The suspicious box was opened by the local cops right before the passengers.
In it was a decapitated male corpse devoid of any clothing. The police noted that the corpse had green socks on the feet, a thick thread around the waist, and a circumcised penis. The remnants of the body were sent for an autopsy at the Erskine Hospital.
The next day, as a police officer was walking along the shores of Madras, he spotted a curious packet bobbing on the sea, being washed up by the waves. The officer went closer towards the mysterious package and picked it up. He unwrapped the brown shirt that was around it and looked down to see in his hands, a human head.
