B’luru murder suspect’s mother says he confessed crime to her

NT Correspondent Bengaluru: The mother of the now dead suspect in the murder of a Bengaluru-based woman said that her son had confessed about the crime to her. In the first week of September, Muktirajan Pratap Ray (31) allegedly strangled the woman Mahalakshmi (29) and then chopped her body into scores of pieces at her apartment in Veeranna Bhavan locality in Bengaluru. The victim’s remains were discovered on September 21.

Ray then fled Bengaluru for his home in Bhuinpur village of Bhadrak district in Odisha. “He looked stressed. So I asked him why and he told me that he had committed a mistake. When I questioned him further, he said that he had murdered a woman in Bengaluru, where he earned a livelihood,” Ray’s elderly mother told mediapersons. The mother added that Ray told him he killed Mahalakshmi because she allegedly cheated him of money and a gold chain.

She added that according to her son, Mahalakshmi complained about him to the police, following which he had to pay Rs 1,000 to be released. Ray also claimed some men had threatened him at Mahalakshmi’s behest. “He then visited the woman’s house where they had a fight. My son said he had strangled her to death,” she said, adding that he didn’t mention chopping her body. The mother said that Ray had left one night, saying he didn’t want to implicate his family in the crime.