Bengaluru fridge horror: Accused’s mother claims son was ‘trapped’

This comes after the Odisha police found Mukti Ranjan Roy, the key suspect in the brutal killing of Mahalakshmi, hanging from a tree in Bhadrak district.

In a shocking revelation, the mother of the accused in the Bengaluru Mahalakshmi murder case, has opened up about her son's troubled relationship with Mahalakshmi, whose body was found on Saturday in a refrigerator at her flat in Bengaluru’s Vyalikaval.

Mahalakshmi's body, cut into over 30 pieces, was stuffed in a refrigerator, the police said.

Kunjalata Roy told ANI, "He said he had fallen prey to that woman's trap. She kept asking for money from him. I asked him why he didn’t flee from there (Bengaluru) and resign from his job. He did this out of fear, as the woman kept demanding money from him."

Her statement comes after the Odisha police found Mukti Ranjan Roy, the key suspect in the brutal killing of Mahalakshmi, hanging from a tree in Bhadrak district.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Central Bengaluru, Shekar H Tekkannavar, announced that the accused, Roy, took his own life while being pursued by law enforcement.

Roy's confession

The police have recovered a diary of Roy in which he confessed that he had dismembered the body of the Bengaluru woman to 59 pieces after killing her.

The victim’s estranged husband had also raised suspicions about a man known to Mahalakshmi, who lived nearby and was believed to have had close contact with her.

The Bengaluru Police reported that the Roy and Mahalakshmi, had met while working in a garment shop and had developed a relationship. Mahalakshmi was allegedly pressuring Roy to marry her, which led to frequent arguments.

Mahalakshmi’s murder, discovered on Saturday, shocked the city, drawing parallels with the infamous Shraddha Walkar case from Delhi in 2022, where the victim was also dismembered and her body stored in a refrigerator. Mahalakshmi's maggot-infested body was found by her mother and sister at her home in Vyalikaval, cut into several pieces and concealed in the fridge.