Police investigating the brutal murder of Mahalaxmi, whose body was chopped into 59 pieces, have traced how Mukti Ranjan Roy escaped from Bengaluru to Bhadrak in Odisha after allegedly committing the gruesome act.
Mukti allegedly confessed to both his younger brothers — one in Bengaluru and the other in Behrampore — about the murder and both helped him with transportation. The youngest brother, Smriti Ranjan, who worked in Bengaluru’s Hebbagodi, gave him a two-wheeler to leave the city. The second brother, Satya Ranjan Roy, who lived in Behrampore, picked him up when he landed there and gave him shelter for nine days until he moved to his home in Bhadrak on September 24.
Police sources say the brothers did not report the murder as Mukti may have used threat and exerted his rank as an elder brother to silence them from speaking to the police or any other member of the family.
Smriti Ranjan has been detained by the police in Bengaluru. Satya, the youngest brother who was also questioned by the Odisha and Bengaluru Police, told News18 over phone from Behrampore that Mukti was frustrated with his relationship with Mahalaxmi and his job. He had even sought money from his mother and brothers to buy a car to drive as taxi in Bengaluru.
“We come from a very poor family and have no money. He asked us for Rs 1 lakh, but none of us had that. He wanted to move away from Mahalaxmi,” said Satya said.
He also told both the Bengaluru and Odisha teams investigating the case that Mukti had complained of being blackmailed and threatened by Mahalaxmi, and on the day of the murder, she had threatened him with a knife.
After allegedly killing the 29-year-old victim and chopping her body with a butcher’s knife, Mukti allegedly confessed to Smriti who asked him to escape before the police came looking for him.
Satya also told the police that Mukti claimed that he planned to dispose of the body after two or three months and intended to escape to the interiors of the state until the police lost track of him.
Three teams of the Karnataka Police, along with a local police team of Bhadrak district, traced Mukti’s route from Bengaluru to his house in Odisha.
On September 16, Mukti arrived around midnight in Behrampore, where his youngest brother Satya is pursuing an engineering course. He called his brother from an unknown number and asked him to pick him up from a location near the market. Satya, who reached the location on a two-wheeler, found Mukti standing and smoking a cigarette. He then took him to his small one-bedroom residence, where Mukti spent most of the day sleeping.
After three days of remaining utterly silent and tense, Mukti opened up to his youngest brother about the murder and told him that he was “forced” to commit the crime because Mahalaxmi would “torture him and demand money from him”.
“We are three brothers and we have similar gold finger rings made by our parents. He told me that he was forced to give that away, along with a gold chain, as she kept pestering him for money. She also kept asking him to marry her, but he was not ready,” Satya told News18.
Mukti stayed another week at Satya’s place. On September 24, at around 2pm, he told his brother that he had to meet a person in Balasore and would travel there. Satya offered to drop him off on his two-wheeler, but halfway through the trip, Mukti got off the bike and began walking. He asked Satya to return to Balasore and attend his classes.
When News18 questioned why neither of the brothers told Mukti to surrender and confess to the crime, Satya claimed that they followed what their elder brother asked them to do.
“He told me that he would handle it and that I should find a way to escape before the police come hunting for me and him” Satya said.
Satya also told them that Mukti complained about how strained and tormenting his relationship with Mahalaxmi had been. He recounted an incident when Mahalaxmi, who worked in a garment store, began demanding more money after Mukti informed her that he was being transferred to Kerala.
“They were on their way to Kerala, and during an argument, she got off the vehicle and shouted that she was being kidnapped. She later told the police that my brother had kidnapped her. He was beaten up and later released,” alleged Satya.
Satya also informed the police that he had received threatening calls from a local goon, who demanded compliance with Mahalaxmi’s monetary demands, or face consequences.
“Mukti said that in one call, he was threatened that he would be cut into pieces, his body stuffed in a cooker, cooked, and fed to dogs. This enraged my brother even more. When he confronted her about it, they had a major argument that spiraled out of control, leading him to strangle her,” Satya told the Odisha police.
Satya also confessed to the police that Mukti told him he had strangled Mahalaxmi to death on September 3 and tried to hang her body from the ceiling to make it look like a suicide but failed.
On September 24, Mukti reached his house in Bhadrak, met his mother, and asked her to cook food for him. Mukti had not visited home in two years, and after spending some time with her, he confessed the crime to her as well. He then left the house and on September 25, Mukti’s body was found hanging from a tree in Bhuipur village, with a bag next to him and a handwritten suicide note. News18 had earlier reported the contents of the note.
Satya’s statement was also recorded by the special team of the Bengaluru Police, where he further claimed that his brother had been in a state of depression and was not himself when he told them about the gruesome act or left the house.
A senior police officer working closely on the case told News18 that “if needed, they will also bring Satya to Bengaluru for questioning, but the technical analysis and forensic investigation are ongoing, and a thorough probe is being conducted in the case”.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda, speaking to the media about the case, said the investigation is still ongoing.
“We spoke to the brother of the accused. His statement has been recorded before the Magistrate, and the matter is sub-judice,” said the senior officer, referring to the questioning of Smriti Ranjan Roy.
“There were some differences between the two of them that led to the murder. But what exactly happened and the motive behind the murder are all part of the ongoing investigation,” Dayananda said.
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