There may be distressing facts in this narrative.


It was the 1950s. A train named 'Indu Ceylon Express' had left from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She was traveling from Chennai's Egmore station to Dhanskudi and from there to Thalaimanar in Sri Lanka.

In those days, the journey from Chennai's Egmore station to Dhanushkodi took 19 hours. After reaching Dhanushkodi, tourists used to get off the train and from there take a ferry boat to Thalaimanar in Sri Lanka.

The journey was three and a half hours and the ferry boat was called 'Boat Mail Express'.

About 70 years ago, a decapitated body was found in this train which shocked everyone. How did this murder happen and what was the reason for this murder, whose was this decapitated body, these were the questions that continued to adorn the news for many days.



The mystery of the beheaded body in the coffin

August 29, 1952 was the day when the express train that left Chennai at 8 o'clock last night reached Manamadurai at 10 o'clock in the morning.

Passengers complained that one of the coaches of the train was smelling. After which the police and railway police were informed about it.

When the police entered the concerned bogie, they found a box lying there, which was emanating stench. As soon as the police opened the box, they found a decapitated human body in it.

The body had green socks on its feet, but as the body could not be identified, it was sent to the local government hospital where a post-mortem was conducted.

In the post-mortem, doctors concluded that the body belonged to a 25-year-old man.

The police said that the man was circumcised, indicating that he was a Muslim, but both conclusions were proved wrong when the murder case was solved.

While the police in Manamadurai were trying to identify the decapitated body found in the coffin, a woman was searching for her husband and knocked on the door of the house of Devaki, an acquaintance of hers. Instead of Devaki, her husband Prabhakar Maan opened the door.


The woman told Prabhakar Maan, 'My husband has not returned home since yesterday. People saw him with Devaki. That's why I came here.'

Prabhakar Maan told the lady that no such person is in his house nor has he come here.

The woman's missing husband was a businessman. His name was Alwinder and he had not returned home since last night. So his wife was looking for him from the next morning. Finding no trace of her husband, the woman, along with Alwinder's close friend, went to the police station and lodged a missing report.

The lady claims that although the police intended to begin their inquiry at Devki's home, they discovered that it was locked when they got there. On inquiry from the neighbours, it was learned that Devaki and Prabhakar Maan had gone to Mumbai.


The head was found in a bag from the beach


A neighbor told the police that Prabhakar Mann was seen heading towards the beach with a bag the previous day. The police then searched the Raipuram beach for a few days.

On the third day after Alwinder went missing, local residents complained to the police about a foul smell coming from a bag lying on the Raipuram beach. Police found a head wrapped in a brown shirt from the bag while investigating the spot. The condition of the head found in the bag was rotten. When the news appeared in the newspapers the next day, there was an uproar in Chennai.


The severed head was sent to the Madras Medical College for examination. Meanwhile, a decapitated body was also sent from Manamadurai to Chennai. Both these cases were investigated by renowned forensic professor CP Gopalakrishan.

After the forensic investigation, they said that the age of the dead body could be 42 to 45 years.


The head found in Chennai had two holes in the ear, when it was shown to Sir Alwinderji's wife, she immediately said that this head belonged to her husband after seeing the hole in the ear and the structure of the teeth.


Who was Alwinder?

Alwinder was probably 42 years old when he was assassinated in 1952. He worked as a sub-divisional officer in an army office but retired from the army after the Second World War.

After retirement, he started his own small business in Chennai city. At first, he started selling plastic items along with his friend Kunam Chetty. His friend used to sell pens in Chennai. Alwinder started his own small shop during this period.


Apart from this, they also used to sell sarees to customers on installments. At that time the idea of ​​giving away sarees or items on installments was new so they made good profit in the business.

Although Alwinder had two children, police investigation revealed that they had an affair and were in an extramarital relationship. Apart from this, Alwinder used to use narcotics like opium.

One night when Alwinder did not return home, his wife went to the shop and inquired about her husband. Where he was told that he had gone to meet Devaki.


Devaki and Prabhakar plan the murder


Devaki was originally from Kerala and after completing her college education, she started working at a language development institute in Chennai.

Devki and Alvinder met in a stationery shop. An introduction in August 1951 turned into love. At that time Devaki was not married but Alvindar was married.


Alvinder had an extramarital affair with Devaki. This continued for a few days and in 1952, Devaki got married to Prabhakaran Mann. Prabhakar Mann was earlier working in a private insurance company. Later he became the editor of a magazine called 'Sava Tantra'.

While Prabhakarman was working hard to promote his magazine, Devaki took him to Alvinder's shop. Devaki tells Prabhakar that Alvinder can bring an advertisement for the magazine.


According to police officer M Sangaravelo, who investigated the case, Alvinder was harassing Devki even after marriage. So Devaki decided to 'put Alvinder out of the way'.

IPS officer M Sangaravilu wrote a detailed article about this in the Madras Police Journal in 1955.

He wrote that Alvinder once met Prabhakar and told him that he was 'going to meet an official of a big company. If Devki also comes with me, we can ask for a big advertisement for the magazine. Devaki then moved in with Alwinder but Alwinder's intentions were not good.'


They take Devaki to a hotel on the pretext of introducing her to a client. where he laid his hand on her honour. Deviki returned home crying and narrated the whole incident to her husband.

After hearing everything, Prabhakar asks Devaki 'Have you ever had a love affair with Alvinder?'

Devaki replied yes, saying that sometimes a relationship is formed under pressure.

Prabhakaran then assured Devaki of revenge and conspired with Devaki to kill Alvinder.

Alwinder was called home and killed



On 28 August 1952, Devaki went to Alwinder's shop and asked him to come home. Before Alvinder arrives, Devaki sends her servant Narayan away from home with some money and instructs him to return in the evening.

When Alwinder came to Devaki's house, at that time her husband Prabhakar was also present in the house but Alwinder did not know about it. Prabhakar, along with Devaki, kills Alvinder and separates his head from his torso.

The body was then placed in a casket while the head was sealed in a bag and thrown into the sea at Raipuram, but the bag was soon washed ashore by the waves.


Prabhakar filled some sand in the bag and floated it back into the water, but by then some people had reached there and Prabhakar saw them and ran away.

After returning home, Devaki and Prabhakar decide to take Alvinder's body to Chennai Central Railway Station to dispose of it. When they reached there in a rickshaw, fearing the presence of the police, they took the casket with the body to Egmore railway station where they placed it in the train with the help of a lock.


The next day Alvinder's wife arrives at Devaki's house looking for them, but fearing being caught by the police, Devaki and Prabhakar immediately flee to Mumbai.

It didn't take long for the police to uncover Alvinder's murder and Devaki and Prabhakar's plan. The reason was that many people had seen Alvinder enter Prabhakar's house but no one had seen him go back.

Madras police went to Mumbai and arrested Devaki and Prabhakar. The accused couple was staying with a relative in Mumbai. He was brought back to Chennai from Mumbai and interrogated. He initially denied the charge of murder but there was strong evidence against him.

Both the rickshaw driver who took Alwinder's coffin to the railway station and the porter who placed it on the train recognized Prabhakar. Devaki's employee Narayan also told many things.


The forensic investigation proved that it was a premeditated murder, but the judge's attitude towards Alwinder was extremely negative. So the judge decided to give lesser punishment to the murderers Devaki and Prabhakar.

Devaki received a two-year term, while Prabhakar received a seven-year imprisonment. Prabhakar and Devaki were released after completing their sentences in the fifties. He then moved to his native Kerala where he started a new shop.

This murder case is considered to be one of the most important in the investigative history of the Tamil Nadu Police as forensic science played an unprecedented role in proving the murder.


Several books were later written about the murder in Tamil Nadu and a television serial was made based on the case in 1995.