Murder most foul: Police grill four suspects named by next of kin

Three co-workers, alleged partner questioned as grisly details emerge

NT Bengaluru: Vyalikaval police questioned four suspects in a murder based on the suspicions of the family members of the victim. The suspects were let go after being questioned on Sunday. One Mahalakshmi's (29) body was discovered at her apartment where she lived alone for the last few months near Veeranna Bhavan in Bengaluru on Saturday. Mahalakshmi’s landlord had called her estranged husband Hemant Das because he noticed a foul smell coming from her apartment. However, since Hemant lived in far-away Nelamangala town with their four-yearold child, he requested Mahalakshmi’s mother Meena and sister Sahida to visit. When the duo arrived at the apartment, they found Mahalakshmi’s body was chopped into 59 pieces.

The killler had tried to stuff body parts into the fridge. “We received a call about the smell, and we arrived at her home. We couldn’t believe it when we opened the fridge to find her body cut into pieces,” Meena said. “Whoever has done this must be punished severely. No one deserves to die like this,” Sahida said. Vyalikaval police said that the murder took place in the first week of September since Mahalakshmi’s cell phone was switched off on September 2. Cops added that the killer had tried to sanitise the scene of murder. Police sources said that the victim’s “legs were placed on top of the refrigerator, the torso on the middle shelf, and her head at the bottom” and that her “head was cut into three parts”. The four suspects named and grilled were three coworkers namely Mukta, Shashidhar and Sunil, besides Uttarakhand native Ashraf who was allegedly romantically involved with the deceased.

Workplace hostilities cited: Mahalakshmi had informed her family that she had a fight with her co-workers. Back in July, when she was living with her brother, she told him that she wasn't on good terms with her former manager Shashidhar. The deceased worked as a salesperson at a mall-based clothing store. The other suspect who figures prominently is Ashraf. Mahalakshmi’s husband Hemant said that their arranged marriage of six years had fallen apart because she had an affair with Ashraf, leading to their separation. Hemant said that he had checked her wife’s phone and found she was in contact with Ashraf. “She was always friendly with others, and that became a problem between us,” Hemanth said, adding that although Mahalakshmi visited him and their child some times, she hadn’t done so in recent months.

Autopsy done, body cremated: The victim’s body was pieced together and postmortem was conducted, following which her body was cremated at Lalbagh Crematorium on Sunday. Cops said the tests would yield DNA evidence. They added that they weren’t sure of the motive behind the murder but the autopsy might yield answers.

6 teams to probe horror

Six special police teams led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Central) Shekhar have been formed to trace the accused in the murder case. Police sources said that more than 100 CCTV cameras in the vicinity of the house where the incident took place have been checked.