E-Paper
Bengaluru fridge horror: Accused confessed murder to his mother before suicide
After realising that Mahalakshmi had died, he initially tried to hang her to pass her death as a suicide but later decided to chop her body into pieces
BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha man accused of killing and dismembering a woman’s body in Bengaluru told his family about the crime before dying by suicide and allegedly claimed that Mahalakshmi and her brothers used to thrash him and extort money from him.
On Thursday, the man’s younger brother, a B.Tech student in Berhampur town, told reporters that his brother confessed to the murder and that 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 B.Tech student told reporters, adding that his brother blamed Mahalakshmi for messing up his life.
“He kept on saying that the girl has destroyed our family,” the 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 said.
To be sure, the Bengaluru police believe that Mahalakshmi (29) was stabbed to death on the suspicion that she was involved with another man. The two were colleagues at a Bengaluru mall and had been in a relationship since late 2023. She was married to Hemant Das but came to Bengaluru nine months ago to start afresh following marital discord.
The man accused of murdering her died by suicide in Odisha’s Bhadrak district on Wednesday, five days after the crime came to light.
In a note, the man wrote: “I was fed up with her conduct. I fought with her over personal matters and Mahalakshmi assaulted me. Enraged by her act, I killed her.” It also said that he strangled her on September 3 after an altercation and later chopped the body.
Before he died, the man visited his mother on Tuesday. She said he was tense when he came home at 10pm on Tuesday.
“When I asked him why he was so tensed, he told me that he had done something wrong. He revealed that he had killed the girl in Bengaluru who worked with her…. He did not visit us for last 2-3 years and would not pick up our call or even tell us what was going in his life. He told me Mahalakshmi `used to beat him regularly. Once she beat him up and demanded ₹1 lakh. Her brothers threatened to kill him. He told me that he had to kill her to save himself,” his sobbing mother told reporters.
If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist.
Helplines: Aasra: 022 2754 6669; Sneha India Foundation: +914424640050 and Sanjivini: 011-24311918, Roshni Foundation (Secundrabad) Contact Nos: 040-66202001, 040-66202000, ONE LIFE: Contact No: 78930 78930, SEVA: Contact No: 09441778290
