Bhubaneswar: Mother of the accused in Bengaluru woman Mahalaxmi murder case said her son fell prey to the deceased's trap as she kept demanding money from him.

"He told me that he fell prey to the woman's trap. She was asking for money from him. I had once asked him as to why he wasn't fleeing from Bengaluru by resigning from his job, to which he replied that he was in fear as she kept demanding money from him," said Kunjalata Ray, mother of accused Muktiranran Ray. He has reportedly died by suicide.

Muktiranran, a 30-year-old man, was found hanging from a tree near a cremation ground at Kuleipada village under Dhusuri police limits in Bhadrak district, yesterday. He hailed from Bhuinpur village in Bhadrak and was working in a private company in Bengaluru.

Mahalaxmi (26) of Tripura and Muktiranran were colleagues as both worked in the same company in Bengaluru.

Muktiranran allegedly killed Mahalaxmi and chopped her body into more than 50 pieces. He kept the body parts in a refrigerator. Later, he fled Bengaluru and went to Bhadrak.

The Karnataka Police had sent four teams to Odisha to apprehend him.

The suspected killer had stopped coming to work from September 1. Mahalaxmi’s last day of work was also on September 1. The police suspect that Mahalaxmi was killed on September 2 or September 3.

The murder case came to light after neighbours noticed a foul smell emanating from Mahalaxmi's house for two days and informed her relatives.

Though the refrigerator was operational, the body had been infested by maggots. A suitcase was found near the fridge.

As per residents of the area, where Mahalaxmi had been living for five months, she lived alone and did not mingle much with her neighbours. The police have also found that she was married but lived separately from her husband.

Police investigation into the gruesome murder case has revealed that he killed her in a fit of rage and chopped her body into 59 pieces with an axel blade. He smothered her to death, dragged her body to the bathroom, and chopped the body into pieces.

He stuffed the body parts into the fridge and cleaned the bathroom with acid to erase the evidence. He had also cleaned the house to make it look like nothing had happened if someone tried to peep inside, police sources stated.

The suspected killer wrote in his suicide note that he committed the brutal crime as he was fed up with her conduct. The police sources said that the suicide note was written in his diary. "I have killed my lover Mahalaxmi on September 3," the accused had written in his diary.

"I was fed up with her conduct. I fought with her over personal matters and Mahalaxmi assaulted me. Enraged by her act, I killed her," he had stated.

During the investigation, police found that Roy was close to Mahalaxmi and frequently called her up.

(with IANS inputs)