Bengaluru-based murder where the main suspect, killed a 29-year-old, died by suicide
Mukti Ranjan Ray, an Odisha resident who allegedly murdered a 29-year-old married woman, Mahalakshmi, and chopped her body into more than 50 pieces, has died by suicide by hanging himself under the Dhusuri Police Station limits in Bhadrak district of Odisha, DCP Central-Bengaluru, Shekar H Tekkannavar has informed.
The body of Mahalakshmi, 29, was chopped into 59 pieces with her remains stuffed in a fridge for 18 days. The body was found by her mother and elder sister of the victim when the neighbors complained about the foul smell from the apartment. According to the police, the incident happened near Veerana Bhavan in Malleswaram, Bengaluru.
Meena Rana, mother of Mahalakshmi said, “The owner of the building informed me that there was a foul smell coming from the house. When I came and opened the door, I saw the body of Mahalakshmi cut into pieces. I saw her for the last time at the Raksha Bandhan festival. Since then, her phone has been switched off.”
Her elder sister demanded justice and said “Who cuts a woman into pieces like this? I saw her a year ago. Now I saw her in pieces.”
Mukti Ranjan younger brother’s statement
According to the report, the suspect and the woman worked at the same garment shop where they became friends and later entered a relationship. The report says that Mahalakshmi was pressuring Mukti Ranjan to marry, leading to constant arguments and fights. The accused was allegedly short-tempered, killed the woman, and later dismembered her body.
After killing her, the suspect called his younger brother and told him to vacate his rented house and when his brother asked the reason, he said he couldn’t communicate about this over the phone and that he’ll tell him when he meets him.
Later, he confessed about his murder to his brother and told him that he was leaving the place and going to settle in his native place.
“My brother came to me in Berhampur where I am studying and told me everything. After throttling the woman to death at home, he had planned to hang the body to make it look like a case of suicide. When his plan didn’t work out, he chopped her into pieces and stuffed the body parts in the refrigerator.” Satya, the suspect’s younger brother said.
“My brother said the woman had been demanding money from him. She was also torturing him. Recently, the two of them had gone to Kerala where they had an altercation, following which she told the police that my brother had kidnapped her. My brother was beaten up by the police and later they released him” he continued.
My brother told me that he strangled her to death following a scuffle on Sept 3. He tried to hang her body from the ceiling but failed. At night, he chopped her body and stashed the pieces in the refrigerator,” he said while adding that he was going to dispose of the body.
“With the help of technical analysis and Call Record Details, the accused was identified, and his mobile location was initially traced to West Bengal but later he switched it off. However, with the help of technical surveillance, his location was traced to a village in Odisha where we sent our teams to nab him,” the police said.
Resemblance with shraddha walker case:
The suspect might be influenced by the Shraddha Walker case in Delhi as we can see the striking similarities between both crimes.
Shraddha Walker, who was in a live-in relationship with accused aaftab Poonawala, died after his live-in partner strangled her on 18 May 2022. According to the 6,629-page chargesheet filed by Delhi Police in January last year, Aaftab Poonawala dismembered the victim’s body into several pieces and stored them in the fridge. He also disposed of the body parts in different desolate areas so that he wouldn’t get caught by the police. The body parts were discovered later.
