Mahalakshmi murder suspectholed up in West Bengal: cops

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 or the person he suspected had killed his wife, police sources said the suspect is from an eastern stateworking in Bengaluru and was one of the woman's friends.The sources also told TOI that the suspect has confessed to one of his family members that he killed Mahalaskhmi. 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 at Bowring hospital mortuary.A senior polcie officer told TOI, "The role of the husband or Arshraf, a friend of Mahalakshmi who he suspects, has been ruled out.""We suspect shehad been killed 10 days before her body was found," a senior officer said.Police suspect that Mahalakshmi's 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, the bedroom, and the hall. There are no traces of the suspect washing the floor or the bathroom," the officer 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.Another senior police officer said, "The suspect was known to Mahalakshmi. He used to often visit her house, and she visited his. We are questioning a family member of the suspect with whom he has confessed to killing her."-----boxHusband says she assaulted, abused himMahalakshmi'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 a mobile sales and service store in Nelamangala. Mahalakshmi visited his shop on Feb 15 and asked him for money. He gave her Rs 1,000. She returned to the shop after some time and demanded 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 had 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 that she had developed an affair with another man. 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 where Mahalakshmi stayedtold 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.