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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Family members of slain Melbourne woman Lavanya Chappa<\/a>, whose husband has been charged with her murder in their home, will be allowed to travel to Australia to support Chappa\u2019s children after their second visa application was successful.<\/p>\n Chappa, 39, was found stabbed to death in the Vermont home about 10pm on Tuesday, and her younger sister Vijaya and Vijaya\u2019s husband applied for visas the next day to travel to Australia to support Chappa\u2019s 13-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son.<\/p>\n Sydney solicitor Sri Thukral, a family friend, said national Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin had intervened to help get a new visa application granted overnight.<\/p>\n Thukral had been asked by Chappa\u2019s parents in southern India to help the couple obtain travel permission and was assured by Department of Home Affairs officers on Wednesday that this would happen.<\/p>\n But when the couple completed their application, it was rejected immediately, and Thukral was told that given this, she no longer had authority to speak with Home Affairs about it.<\/p>\n Related Article The children have no other relatives in Australia and were placed in protective care. Thukral travelled to Melbourne to attend a hearing on their arrangements but was not allowed to speak with or visit them despite their grandparents\u2019 wishes.<\/p>\n She said on Saturday that the family had been asked by police to come to Melbourne to identify Chappa, who she described as a doting mother and former software engineer with a love of reading and travel.<\/p>\n Chappa had been married to her husband, Srinivas Achanta, for 20 years. The family moved to Australia in 2025 after five years living in Singapore.<\/p>\n Thukral said it was distressing that the children had witnessed the events leading to their mother\u2019s death and had not had family members available quickly to comfort them.<\/p>\n \u201cI was told that they [representatives of the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing] are organising a trauma specialist to consult with the children next week,\u201d she said. \u201cI am surprised it wasn\u2019t done in the first instance when the police went to speak with the children.\u201d<\/p>\n Thukral said the relatives\u2019 visas were granted after Cronin\u2019s intervention on Friday night, and they were due to arrive in Melbourne on Sunday.<\/p>\n They will formally identify Chappa on Monday and plan to return her body and her children to India.<\/p>\n \u201cLast night, Micaela Cronin managed to fast-track the visa process,\u201d Thukral said. \u201cShe messaged me saying that the visas are sorted and confirmed that it is done.\u201d<\/p>\n Cronin confirmed on Saturday that when the family\u2019s situation was brought to her attention, she contacted the office of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. She said a new visa application had been made, which was considered in a different light.<\/p>\n A spokesman for the Department of Home Affairs said the department could not comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cAll non-citizens who wish to enter or remain in Australia must satisfy the requirements of the Migration Act 1958 (the Act) and Migration Regulations 1994, including identity, health, security and character requirements,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n Launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to help Chappa\u2019s family arrange a funeral, travel and support the children, her cousin Govind Gudihava wrote that Chappa was \u201ca loving mother, a cherished daughter, a devoted family member, a valued colleague, and a dear friend to so many\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cShe worked as a Software Quality Analyst at Civica Asia Pacific, where she was respected for her professionalism, dedication, and kind-hearted nature. She will be remembered for her warmth, compassion, and the positive impact she had on everyone fortunate enough to know her.\u201d<\/p>\n The alleged murderer appeared in the dock at Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court just after 10.30am on Friday.<\/p>\n Magistrate Frances Medina did not read out custody management issues submitted in writing by Achanta\u2019s lawyer, Alex Wolf. She remanded Achanta in custody to appear again for a committal mention on November 7.<\/p>\n Thukral will return to Melbourne to support the children\u2019s aunt and uncle when they arrive, and to assist with an application for custody of the children, which is intended to be lodged this week.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Lavanya](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a955656dc3a92413c7590f3a422012228dd2a668.jpeg\")
Lavanya Chappa was found stabbed to death in Vermont.<\/p>\n![\"Lavanya](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b0b50124148ff677a25a48e6db017c90c414c92b.jpeg\")
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Wendy Tuohy<\/a> is a senior writer focusing on social issues and those impacting women and girls.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-793292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}