Police and locals near the crime scene after a woman was murdered in Malleswaram, Bengaluru.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: In a shocking turn of events, the prime suspect in the sensational murder of 29-year-old Mahalakshmi in Bengaluru was found dead by investigators in a village in Odisha on Wednesday. The deceased was identified as Mukthirajan Pratap Ray, who was in his early thirties.
Shekhar H Tekkannavar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Bengaluru) confirmed the development on Wednesday night and said that Mukthirajan died by suicide.
An officer from the Dhusuri police station in Odisha confirmed to DH that they found Mukthirajan's body hanging from a tree near a plot of land in Bhuinpur village in Bhadrak district in the morning. “We were alerted of a youth who hung himself in the area at around 8.15 am. Our officers immediately reached the spot. Upon further verification, it was confirmed that the deceased was Mukthirajan Pratap Ray,” the in-charge officer said.
“We found a bag and a two-wheeler at the spot. It has been recovered and the Bengaluru police were informed. His family is in the village. The spot where his body was found was barely a few kilometres from his house. Prima facie he left the house in the wee hours in a two-wheeler,” he added.
Police checked the registration on the black Yamaha Fascino and found that it was locally registered in the name of Pratap Ray, Mukthirajan's father. An unnatural death report (UDR) has been registered by the Odisha police.
A top police source in Bengaluru told DH that they received the confirmation from the Bhadrak SP.
“Our team has left and is likely to reach Thursday morning. Further details will be known then,” the senior officer added.
Four teams of investigators from Bengaluru were already in the district tracking the suspected killer near the Odisha-West Bengal border, which was around 180 kilometres from Bhuinpur.
Mahalakshmi’s mutilated body was discovered by her mother and elder sister at her Vyalikaval home on September 21. Mahalakshmi, who was estranged from her husband Hemant Das, had been living in the locality since October 2023.
Police sources said that Mahalakshmi and Mukthirajan were colleagues at a clothing outlet in Malleswaram and had known each other for some time.
“We believe this is where a relationship kindled between them,” an officer close to the probe said.
Another officer said that Mukthirajan had a brother in Hebbagodi. "We found that the suspect had called him after committing the murder and then decided to flee. It was during his questioning that we found out."