Bengaluru murder case: On September 25, the accused Mukti Ranjan Roy was found hanging from a tree in Bhadrak, Odisha, near his hometown. The striking similarities between the murders of Shraddha Walkar in Delhi and Mahalakshmi in Bengaluru have raised police suspicions that the prime accused, Mukti Ranjan Roy, might have been influenced by the Walkar case after watching videos on social media that reenacted the Delhi crime, News18 reported.
Shraddha Walkar, who was in a live-in relationship with the accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala, was allegedly strangled by Poonawala on May 18, 2022. According to the 6,629-page chargesheet filed by Delhi Police in January last year, Aaftab Poonawala allegedly dismembered her body, kept it in a fridge, and disposed the pieces in desolate places across the city over several days to avoid getting caught. The body parts were discovered later.
The body of Mahalakshmi, 29, was chopped into 59 pieces with her remains stuffed in a fridge for 18 days bears resemblance to the case of Shraddha Walkar.The accused, identified as Muktiranjan Pratap Ray (31), was found dead under the Dhusuri Police Station limits in Bhadrak district of Odisha.Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shekhar H Tekkannavar said in Bengaluru that the man was found hanging from a tree on Wednesday morning. In a purported suicide note found from the spot, he has confessed to the crime, according to Odisha police.
According to police in Bengaluru, the suspect and the woman were working in a garment shop where they met and become friends. The two were in a relationship.Mahalakshmi was allegedly pressuring him to marry her. This led to constant arguments between them and led to an altercation. Apparently irked over this, the accused, who is allegedly very short-tempered, killed Mahalakshmi and later dismembered her body, police said, citing preliminary investigation.News18 reported that Mukti Ranjan Pratap Roy spent the entire night, after the murder, with Mahalakshmi’s body, contemplating how to dispose of it.
The report also suggested that he may have drawn inspiration from the Shraddha Walkar case, leading him to dismember the body with a sharp cleaver knife, stuff it in the fridge, and flee the crime scene.Investigations indicated that the murder occurred between September 3 and 4.
More details on what led to the murder
Mukti Ranjan Pratap Roy, a 31-year-old man from Odisha, was identified as a suspect in the murder of Mahalakshmi, whose body was discovered on September 21.Mukti Ranjan and Mahalakshmi were reportedly involved in a tumultuous relationship for nearly six months, frequently engaging in arguments and physical fights, with some disputes spilling out into the street just outside her home in Vyalikaval, according to local police sources cited by News18.
Complaints about their altercations were filed at the Malleshwaram police station, and, as an official explained, attempts were made to resolve the issues amicably.He had discussed her aggressive behaviour and the photographs on her mobile phone with his younger brother, Smriti Ranjan Roy, who resided in Bengaluru. On the night of September 3, Mukti Ranjan allegedly went to Mahalakshmi’s home, where they had yet another argument, triggered by her pressure for him to marry her.
Mahalakshmi was previously married to Hemanth and had a young daughter from that marriage. The couple had separated in September 2023 after suspicions arose regarding her affair with a man named Ashraf, whom her husband cited as the reason for their breakup in his police statement.Mukti Ranjan, aware of her previous marriage, also suspected her of having other affairs and declined to marry her. He had previously seen pictures of other men on Mahalakshmi’s phone, which upset him.
