On Saturday (21st September), the dead body of a brutally murdered woman was discovered at her residence in the Vyalikaval locality of Bengaluru. The deceased was identified as Mahalakshmi (29).
Her body was chopped into pieces (estimated to be between 20 and 40) and stored inside a 165-litre refrigerator. It is suspected that Mahalakshmi was killed 15 days ago.
Her phone had been switched off since 2nd September this year. The matter came to light when the victim’s neighbours complained of a foul smell.
Bengaluru, Karnataka: Police have recovered the body of a woman from a fridge in the Vyalikaval area, within the Central Bangalore police division pic.twitter.com/GgHmEl4XLg
— IANS (@ians_india) September 21, 2024
The police were called in and the surrounding area was cordoned off. The cops recovered the maggot-infested body parts and began a probe into the matter. They also took the help of forensic experts and the dog squad.
Mahalakshmi stayed alone in Bengaluru after she separated from her husband, Hemant Das, earlier this year. She was a native of Nepal.
The victim has a 4-year-old daughter, who lives with her ex-husband. On learning about the matter, Hemant Das also reached the crime spot. He reportedly used to come to Mahalakshmi’s house with their child every fortnight.
#Breaking
— Elezabeth Kurian (@ElezabethKurian) September 21, 2024
A young woman was allegedly murdered, chopped into pieces and her body was kept in a fridge at Vyalikaval near Veeranna Bhavan in Malleswaram, Bengaluru.
Incident sounds similar to Shraddha Walker murder case. @BlrCityPolice pic.twitter.com/aZW0zTlKJj
While speaking about the disturbing incident, the police informed, “Mahalakshmi’s phone had been switched off since September 2. As she was not reachable, her mother and sister were worried and came to the house.”
“When we opened the door, we could see maggots crawling on the floor and the entire floor sticky with the victim’s blood that had dripped from the refrigerator’s door. Legs were cut and placed on top of the refrigerator, while remaining body parts were placed on the middle shelves. The head was placed at the bottom of the refrigerator,” they added.
The present case is reminiscent of the murder of a 27-year-old woman named Shraddha Walker by her live-in-partner Aftab Amin Poonawalla. He had strangled the victim to death on 18th May 2022 and then chopped her body into 35 pieces.
Over a span of several days, Aftab disposed of her body parts at 18 different locations in the National Capital. The gory details and severity of his heinous crime have sent shockwaves across the country. He was arrested in November of that year.
