The body of the dentist Preethi Reddy, who went missing on Sunday, March 4, after she spent the night with her boyfriend, was found stuffed in a suitcase inside her car. Her boyfriend 34-year-old Harshwardhan Narde of Tamworth, incidentally, died in a in a head-on collision with a truck near Tamworth just after 10pm on March 5.
Dr Reddy’s body was found, stabbed numerous times, in a suitcase inside her car in laneway at Kingsgate in Sydney’s eastern suburbs just before 9.30pm Monday night.
The 32-year-old from Penrith in western Sydney attended a dental convention at St Leonards during the weekend and spent the Sunday in a hotel on Market Street in the CBD with Dr Narde, and it is understood that Narde was with her at the conference.
Detective Superintendent Gavin Dengate said Narde, also a dentist, was grilled by the Strike Force Carlwood officers investigating the case soon after she went missing. The officers were interviewing Narde before Reddy’s body was found as part of the missing person’s inquiry. “Police did speak to (the ex-boyfriend) and at that time it was still a missing person’s inquiry,” Supt Dengate said.
Shockingly, just a day after she was reported missing on Sunday night, Narde also died on Monday night in a head-on collision with a truck near Tamworth. Police say it appears Narde intentionally made this accident happen. The driver of the fruit and vegetable-laden semi-trailer, a 49-year-old man managed to escape from the truck before it burst into flames on impact with Dr Narde’s BMW.
Supt Dengate said investigators were unsure where and when the dentist was murdered, but they had reasons to believe Reddy was killed at the hotel. “We are still working on the timeline of events and that’s why we need the public to come forward with any information they have,” Supt Dengate said.