BENGALURU: While city police are said to have identified the killer of Mahalakshmi, the 29-year-old woman whose dismembered body parts were found stuffed inside a refrigerator in her one-bedroom house in Vyalikaval police station limits, forensic experts said the killer seems to be a sadomasochist and should be brought to justice at the earliest.
“According to media reports, the victim’s body was cut into several pieces (more than 30) before being stuffed inside the refrigerator. The perpetrator may have dismembered her after killing her for two reasons -- easy disposal of body parts and to derive gratification and pleasure (sic) from indulging in the macabre process of dismembering the body.
While there have been disturbing cases of murder and dismemberment reported earlier, cutting the body into pieces is a time-consuming affair and requires skill. People with sadomasochistic tendencies derive pleasure and gratification by inflicting pain on their victim.
Preserving body parts inside a refrigerator seems to be an indication of an extremely antisocial personality disorder behind the grisly act. Sadistic killers lack empathy,” said the expert.
According to sources, when the refrigerator was opened after some neighbours complained of a foul smell from the flat, family members of the victim found Mahalakshmi’s head in the last tray of the refrigerator. The visceral organs were kept in the top shelf and the remaining body parts were stuffed in the three shelves.
“The killer seems to have been in no rush or panic to dispose of the body after murdering and dismembering her as if he had finished cooking and kept the food in the refrigerator. It must have taken him a lot of time - at least two to three hours to murder and dismember his victim.
It seems to be a well planned, cold-blooded murder, and is in many ways similar to the Shraddha Walkar case, in which the accused reportedly murdered and dismembered her and stored her body parts in a refrigerator while dating another woman. On the contrary, there are high-profile people who murder and panic while disposing of the body,” said the forensic expert.
The killer should be arrested at the earliest to prevent him from committing similar crimes. “The murderer seems to be a calm person. Police have to be trained in dealing with such criminals because they do not follow the typical modus operandi of people who usually kill for revenge, lust etc.
For people with such personality disorders such acts are more ‘ritualistic’. They challenge the existing legal system. They exhibit a calm and cool persona and are pathological liars. We cannot rule out the perpetrator’s similar criminal activities in the past. Many cases of missing persons, especially women, often remain undetected. They could be victims of such ghastly crimes,” said the expert.