Bangalore/Bhubaneswar: The gruesome killing of a 29-year-old woman, whose dismembered body was found in the fridge of her house here, was allegedly due to differences over the issue of marriage between her and the accused, Bangalore police commissioner B Dayananda said Friday.
The accused Mukti Ranjan Ray allegedly ended his life by suicide at his native village in Bhadrak district September 25. The maggot-infested body of Mahalakshmi, chopped into 59 pieces and stuffed into the fridge, was found by her mother and elder sister at her Vyalikaval home here September 21. “Regarding the murder case of a woman registered in Vyalikaval police station September 21, based on a complaint of her mother…we have gone to other states in search of the prime suspect, it came across that he has committed suicide in Dhusuri police station limits in Bhadrak district of Odisha. Our officials and personnel have gone there and we are gathering information,” Dayananda said. Speaking to reporters here, he said the accused has also written a death note in which he has mentioned about the murder and has confessed about his role in it. “We will get all that information from there and further investigate….more information cannot be shared as it is still part of the investigation, but prima facie what we have got to know is they had personal differences, especially differences in connection with marriage, which led to the crime,” he said.
Dayananda said the accused’s younger brother resides in Bangalore. He has been subjected to investigation and his statement has been recorded before the court. It is worth mentioning here that the family members of Mukthiranjan Thursday alleged that Mahalaxmi used to blackmail and extract money from from the former. One of Muktiranjan’s younger brothers told IANS Thursday that the accused had disclosed before him about committing the crime and the reasons behind it, before committing suicide. “He stayed with me for 10 to 12 days in my mess at Berhampur before committing suicide. He had also told me about committing the crime. He said that Mahalaxmi was blackmailing him constantly and also extracted large amounts of money and gold ornaments from him,” Muktiranjan’s younger brother reportedly said. He added that the family members were angry with him as he didn’t send any money back home. “My brother also told me that he had squandered a minimum of `7 to 8 lakh after being blackmailed by Mahalaxmi. She had taken a gold chain and one of the three rings he bought for his brothers,” he said.
Quoting his conversation with Muktiranjan, his brother said that on the day of the crime the former had gone to meet Mahalaxmi after she called him over the phone.” She threatened to kill Muktiranjan and his brother. T his ang ered Muktiranjan who, in a fit of rage, strangulated her to death,” he said. According to police sources, Mahalakshmi, who had separated from her estranged husband, had been living separately in Vyalikaval since October 2023. They said she and Ray were colleagues at a clothing outlet and had known to each other for some time.
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