Bengaluru fridge horror: Odisha police detail suspected killer's final hours before suicide

After fleeing Bengaluru and moving around a few places, the suspect reached his village at his parent’s house late in the night. His parents were unaware of the murder.

Bengaluru: The prime suspect in the horrific killing of a 29-year-old woman in Bengaluru had reached his village in Odisha’s Bhadrak district in a state of panic on Tuesday night, just hours before he reportedly killed himself.

After fleeing Bengaluru and moving around a few places, Mukti Ranjan Ray (30) reached his village late in the night. He had informed his brother in Bengaluru right after the murder and fled, as per Bengaluru police sources.

Ray's parents were unaware of the Bengaluru murder.

The next morning, Ray was found hanging from a tree near a plot of land in Bhuinpur village in Dhusuri police station limits, about 3 km from his house.

“Our preliminary investigation has revealed that the deceased was in a state of panic when he reached his village,” Shantanu Kumar Jena, Station House Officer (SHO), Dhusuri police station, told DH. "Our investigation revealed that the deceased left his house on a scooter around 4 am on Wednesday without informing anyone. His family learnt about his death around 7 am and alerted us at 8.30 am."

When the investigators reached the spot, they recovered a bag filled with clothes, a black Yamaha Fascino registered in the name of Ray’s father and a purported suicide note.

“It was a sort of a confession. Since we have registered an Unnatural Death Report (UDR), we wouldn’t like to comment on it further. The Bengaluru police team is on the way and they will release more information,” the officer said, adding that the body was handed over to the family after the post-mortem.

Four teams from the Bengaluru police were already in Odisha looking for Ray and were closing in on him, as per Bengaluru police sources. It is suspected that sensing his imminent arrest, he died by suicide.

“His mother is in shock and hasn’t revealed much. Both his parents are alive and stay in the village. As per his mother’s statement, the deceased had reached his home around 10 pm,” SHO Jena said.

Ray was accused of killing Mahalakshmi, a Nepalese-origin woman born and brought up near Bengaluru. The two worked at an apparel store in the city and had broken up after an affair.

Malakshmi’s mutilated body parts were found stuffed inside a single-door fridge in her Vyalikaval home on September 21. She had been estranged from her husband Hemant Das and living alone since October 2023.