On August 7, locals in a Karnataka village were shocked to see a dog dragging a severed hand on the road. Another hand was found a kilometre away. Things got murkier after other dismembered body parts of a woman, including her head, were recovered from 10 different locations.
The locals and the police knew it was not a conventional murder case.
The incident has sent police in Tumakaru district into a tizzy and sparked panic among locals of Koratagere taluk. The motive behind the gruesome murder and the identity of the killers remain unknown.
The incident is reminiscent of the Shraddha Walkar case of 2022, where the 27-year-old woman was killed by her live-in partner and her chopped-up body was dumped in a nearby forest in Delhi.
The first discovery was made on Thursday morning near the Mutyalamma Temple in Chimpuganahalli. A stray dog was found by the locals dragging a severed hand onto the road from nearby bushes. Another hand, wrapped in a plastic cover, was found nearby.
Over the next several hours, police recovered body parts from multiple locations - parts of intestines near Lingapura Road bridge, stomach and other internal organs near Bendone Nursery, and a leg along with a blood-stained bag near Jonigarahalli.
More body parts were found inside two bags on the road between Siddarabetta and Negalal. On Friday afternoon, the victim's head was recovered near Siddarabetta.
In total, body parts were recovered from 10 locations, falling under the jurisdiction of Koratagere and Kolala police stations.
After an investigation and based on the tattoos on the hands and facial features, police identified the victim as Lakshmidevamma (42), a resident of Bellavi in Tumakuru taluk.
She had been reported missing since August 4. Her husband, Basavaraju, had lodged a complaint with Bellavi police station.
According to the complaint, Lakshmidevamma had gone to Urdigere on August 3 to visit her daughter but did not return home that night.
Investigators believe she was murdered and dismembered two days ago. Her remains were deliberately scattered to hinder identification.
Police are yet to trace the killer and find the motive for the gruesome murder.
Source: India Today