Indian couple held for killing woman in Italy

An Indian couple in Italy has been arrested for allegedly killing their flatmate, an Iranian national, and dumping her naked body stuffed in a suitcase in a Venetian canal.

An Indian couple in Italy has been arrested for allegedly killing their flatmate, an Iranian national, and dumping her naked body stuffed in a suitcase in a Venetian canal.

Rajeshwar Singh, 29, and Gagandeep Kaur, 30, shared an apartment in Milan with the victim, 29-year-old Mahfab Ahadsavoji, whose body was found off the island of Lido last week and identified through finger-prints.

The couple allegedly strangled Ahadsavoji to death after she refused a sexual advance, ANSA reported.

The duo then stuffed her body into a luggage bag with rollers and took it by train to the northern city of Lecco with the intention of tossing it into Lake Como, police said.

After seeing too many people in the area, the pair decided to take the body to Venice instead, again by train, they said.

A Venice taxi driver told police the duo paid him 500 euros for the return trip to Milan.

Initially, the accused denied involvement but their movements with the suitcase were captured by security cameras at the Venice train station, prompting a confession, police said.

Ahadsavoji, a known costume designer in Iran, was in Milan for a two-month course at the renowned Academy of Fine Arts of Brera.

A postmortem revealed that Savoji died of asphyxiation.