Bengaluru murder: Mahalakshmi's husband suspects lover's role in murder after her body found in fridge

Bengaluru murder case: After the gruesome details of Mahalakhsmi’s horrific murder came to light, her husband Hemant Das suspects her wife’s lover behind the crime. Mahalakshmi was found dead in her Bengaluru flat with her body chopped into over 30 pieces and stored in a refrigerator.

Das filed a complaint against her lover, Ashraf to a local Bengaluru police several months ago. Ashraf is a resident of Uttarakhand who was working in a Bengaluru salon, as per the victim’s husband.

"…I filed a complaint against him at the Nelamangala police station once. After the complaint, it was mandated that he not come to Bengaluru. But I don't know where else they went...," India Today quoted Hemant Das as saying.

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Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda on Monday (Sep 23) said the police have identified the prime suspect in the case in which the body of the 29-year-old woman was found chopped up and stuffed into a refrigerator.

“He's an outsider. We can't give more information as of now as it may help the accused,” the police commissioner said.

Earlier, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said the police have collected a lot of information regarding the woman’s death, but said nothing in particular.

He added that the Bengaluru Police suspect a man reportedly from West Bengal to be behind the murder but added that more evidence is needed to confirm his role.

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Hemant Das and Mahalakshmi were married for six years and have a daughter. However, the couple started living separately nine months ago due to domestic disputes, India Today reported. Mahalakshmi had an alleged affair with a man outside the marriage.

"They both had an extra-marital affair which led to the problem and I discovered it somewhere in April-May last year. For the last nine months, we were separated and I do not know whether she was in contact with the man. When she separated, he was also told not to meet her but I did not know if he met her. For the first four months, my daughter stayed with her (Mahalakshmi) and later she lived with me in Nelamangala,” The Indian Express quoted Das as saying.

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Das further said he met her wife last in July and she didn’t talk much about her life. After Sep 4, Das never heard from Mahalakshmi again. Later on Sep 21, police found her body dismembered stashed in a refrigerator of a house where she used to live alone.

Mahalakshmi used to live in Malleswaram and was working in a mall, her husband works in a hermitage away from the city.

(With inputs from agencies)