Home-alone woman found dead in Bengaluru

The police suspect death could have taken place a fortnight ago as the body parts, stuffed in a fridge, were highly decomposed.

In a shocking incident, a 26-year-old home-alone woman was murdered and her body parts cut into several pieces and stuffed in the fridge of the house she was living in at Vinayaka Nagar in Vyalikaval here on Saturday.

The deceased has been identified as Mahalakshmi from Nelamangala. The victim was working in a mall and was living in the rented house for the last five months.

The police suspect the murder could have taken place a fortnight ago as the body parts were highly decomposed and worms were found in them.

The murder came to light when her neighbour complained to the police of a foul smell emanating from the locked house. The police got the contact number of the victim’s family from the house owner. When the family members came home and opened the door, they were shocked to find body parts cut into several pieces and kept it in the fridge, a police officer said.

The police and FSL team analysing the scene of the crime recovered Mahalakshmi’s mobile phone, which, according to the police, was switched off on September 2. Going by the decomposed body parts and the electronic evidence gathered from the scene of the crime, it is suspected that she was murdered and her body parts chopped in the house before they were stuffed in the fridge.

Mahalakshmi hailed from Nepal and was married to one Hemanth Das five years ago. The couple has a four-year-old child. The police said the couple had differences and she left him from Nelamangala and came to stay alone in Bengaluru. She was working as a salesperson at a shop at a mall.

Her husband used to visit her once in a while, said the police. However, she was staying alone in the rented house and did not communicate much with the neighbours.

Sunil, her brother who works at a shop at Koramangala, said Mahalakshmi was not in touch with him for many days. “I was informed by one of the relatives and came to see her. We have not spoken or met for many days,” he told the media.

A woman from the neighbourhood said Mahalakshmi moved into the first floor of the building five months ago. “She would hardly stay at home or talk to anyone as she would leave by 9.30 a.m. and return only after 10.30 p.m. A person stayed with her for a few days and claimed to be her brother. We did not even know that she was married,” the neighbour told the media.

The police are checking with her workplace and why the management did not try to check on her when she was absent from work unauthorisedly.

There was a man who used to visit often to pick up and drop her, the police said. Based on the complaint, the police have registered a case of murder and efforts are on to track down the man.

The police are also analysing her call record details to track down the male friend, who is a prime suspect in the case.

Published - September 21, 2024 09:26 pm IST