Bengaluru fridge horror: 'Mahalakshmi murder suspect holed up in West Bengal'

BENGALURU: Investigating the murder of 29-year-old Mahalakshmi whose body was cut into pieces and found in a fridge in her Vyalikaval house on Saturday, police have obtained major clues about the killer.

Ruling out the involvement of her husband, police sources said the suspect is from an eastern state working in Bengaluru and was one of the woman's friends.

They also told TOI that the suspect has confessed to one of his family members that he killed Mahalakshmi. He is suspected to be hiding in West Bengal. A team has been dispatched to nab him. Police also discovered that the accused had chopped her body into close to 50 pieces. The body was handed over to the family Sunday afternoon after a postmortem.

Cops suspect that the body was chopped elsewhere and the pieces were brought to her house and stuffed into the refrigerator. "There are no blood stains in the toilet, bedroom, and the hall. There are no traces of the suspect washing the floor bathroom," a cop said. "There was a suitcase lying next to her sleeping mat. We are also verifying if the accused had tried to stuff her body inside it," the officer added.

Husband says she was abusive

Mahalakshmi’s estranged husband Hemanth Das told police that he had filed a complaint against her in Feb this year with Nelamangala police. He stated that he runs amobile sales and service store in Nelamangala. Mahalakshmi visited his shop on Feb 15 and asked him for money. He gave her Rs 1,000. But she returned to demand more money. When he refused, she allegedly assaulted him and bit him on his chest and abdomen. As he requested police to counsel her, cops had registered a non-cognisable register (NCR) case and counselled her.

Speaking to the media, Das said Mahalakshmi had also filed a complaint against him at Nelamangala police station over a marital row. He also stated that his wife separated from him after he found out that she had an affair. Their four-year-old daughter lived with her father.

Her mother, Meena Rana, said she got a call from her elder daughter, Lakshmi, informing her that her younger brother, Ukkum Singh, called her, saying the in-charge of the building told him that there was a foul smell coming from Mahalakshmi’s house. They came to her rented house on 5th Cross in Basappa Garden, Palace Guttahalli the next day. When they opened the door using a spare key and checked the house, they found Mahalakshmi’s body chopped into pieces and stuffed in the refrigerator.