Bengaluru horror: ‘Mahalakshmi used to blackmail and extort money,’ accused told family before suicide

Bengaluru horror: The accused who allegedly killed a Bengaluru woman, chopped her body into over 50 pieces and stuffed the body parts into a fridge, had told his family that the victim Mahalakshmi used to blackmail and extort money from him.

Before ending his life in Bhadrak district of Odisha, the accused, identified as Mukti Ranjan Ray, told family members that his initial plan to pass her death as a suicide.

His body was found hanging from a tree in a village in Bhadrak district.

According to Hindustan Times report, before committing suicide, Ray told his family about the crime and allegedly claimed that the woman - Mahalakshmi - and her brothers used to thrash him and extort money from him.

On Thursday, Mukti’s younger brother told reporters that his brother confessed to them about committing the crime, saying he chopped her body after an initial plan to pass her death as a suicide did not work.

“My brother was with me for the last 9-10 days. After staying for 3 days, he confessed to killing Mahalakshmi. He told me that Mahalakshmi used to blackmail him and extorted money from him,” the report quoted younger brother as saying.

Mukti had blamed Mahalakshmi for messing up his life, he added.

Before Mukti died, he had visited his mother on Tuesday. She said he was tense when he came home.

The maggot-infested body of Mahalakshmi, chopped into several pieces and stuffed into the fridge, was found by her mother and elder sister at her Vyalikaval home on Saturday.

The deceased woman's estranged husband on Sunday expressed suspicion about the involvement of a man known to Mahalakshmi, who had been living alone, in her neighbourhood.

“He kept on saying that the girl has destroyed our family,” Mukti’s brother said.

“He wanted to marry her and was taking her on a bike to Kerala. However, she accused him of kidnapping and got him thrashed by the public. The public beat him up badly and handed him over to the police. He was also beaten by the cops and left after he gave ₹1,000 bribe. The woman’s brother along with his friends had also threatened to kill my brother. So, out of rage, he held her neck and choked her. After realising that she died, he initially tried to hang her body to pass her death as a suicide. However, he could not hang her and hence chopped it into pieces and put it in the fridge before fleeing to Odisha,” he added.