The dismembered body of a 29-year-old woman was found stuffed inside a refrigerator in the Malleswaram area of Karnataka's Bengaluru on Saturday, reminding the nation of the 2022 Shraddha Walker case, a similar brutal murder of a woman by her live-in partner in Delhi.
The Bengaluru police revealed that the victim has been identified as Mahalakshmi whose body was cut into over 30 pieces and stuffed in a refrigerator.
According to reports the neighbours complained of foul smellfrom the house Mahalakshmi lived in and assumed it was rotten food. Jayaram, the owner of the building was forced to enter Mahalakshmi's apartment after the stench became unbearable, according to The Indian Express report.
Jayaram forcefully entered the single bedroom apartment and opened the fridge to locate the smell only to find dry blood and the dismembered body.
He informed the police who reached the spot and barricaded the road to protect evidence.
An investigation has been launched into the case.
Additional Commissioner of Police (West Zone) N Satheesh Kumar told PTI, "A woman's body was found chopped into pieces and stored in a fridge at a house within the Vyalikaval police station limits. It appeared to have been done 4-5 days ago."
He said the dog squad and the forensic experts too visited the spot and started the investigation.
"The dead body has been identified. The probe is going on. We will give more information after the investigation. She was settled in Karnataka but is originally from another state," Kumar told reporters.
Reportedly the woman was living separately from her husband in the recent months.
While Mahalakshmi lived in Malleswaram and was working in a mall, her husband worked in a hermitage away from the city. After learning about the incident, he too came to the spot.
The couple have a daughter who lived with her father and the police has begun questioning the man.
Shraddha Walker Murder in 2022
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.
Twenty-eight-year-old Poonawala allegedly strangled Walkar and sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence before dumping them across the city.
Police had filed the first chargesheet in the case in February, 2023 in which they stated that after killing Shraddha,Poonawala bought a saw, three blades, a hammer and plastic clips.
After returning back he severed her hand at the wrists with the saw while got rid of a thigh and later got rid of it in Chhatarpur Pahadi jungle. As per report, Poonawala chopped the body in 18 pieces and disposed them in different parts of the city.
reportedly he also told the cops that he had bought a refrigerator on May 19 to prevent the body parts from decomposing and causing a stench.
According to the first chargesheet , the man even 'entertained' a woman in that apartment while the body parts were still in the fridge.
Poonawala pleaded not guilty in the case.
In March 2024, the Delhi police filed 3,000-page supplementary chargesheet with digital evidence of Poonawala's location history while he disposed the parts of the body in different places across the city.
As per latest updates, a Delhi court in July dismissed a plea moved by Poonawala and sought to limit the hearings to twice every month in the ongoing case after his counsel asked for more time to prepare a defence.
