The main accused in the brutal killing of a woman—whose dismembered body was found in the fridge of her house in Bengaluru—was found dead in Odisha’s Bhadrak district on Wednesday.
According to reports, Mukti Ranjan Roy was found hanging on a tree.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara had said that the government had sent multiple police teams to Odisha to nab Roy after they got information about his presence in the state.
"After securing him, we will get more information....two-three persons were taken into custody, but based on the evidence and information available, there is a suspicion about the involvement of the person (in Odisha). So efforts are on to secure him,” he had said.
The maggot-infested body of Mahalakshmi, chopped into over 30 pieces and stuffed into the fridge, was found by her mother and elder sister at her Vyalikaval home on Saturday. Police claimed that she might have been killed at least a week before.
Police identified the suspect after Mahalakshmi’s estranged husband expressed suspicion about the involvement of a man in her neighbourhood in the murder.
According to police, the victim was staying alone in her single bedroom house. She was an employee at a mall in the locality. Her own family, including her parents, lived not far from her accommodation.
Reports said the accused was an acquaintance of the victim. They claimed Mahalakshmi was not close to her neighbours and hardly interacted with them. However, they have confirmed that a man used to pick her up in the morning and drop her back after work.
The incident was a stark reminder of the brutal murder of Shraddha Walker by her live-in partner Aftab Poonawalla on May 18, 2022 at Mehrauli in Delhi.