Karnataka dentist held for chopping his mother-in-law into 19 pieces

Police cracked the Lakshmi Devi murder case in Koratagere in Tumakuru and arrested victim's son-in-law, a dentist, Dr Ramachandrappa and his two accomplices.

Tumakuru police recovered the severed head of a woman and her partially decomposed, dismembered body pieces, found stuffed in multiple plastic bags, along the road at Kolala village in Koratagere.

Koratagere police officials said initially on August 7, seven covers with the woman's body parts stuffed were brought to their notice by passersby. Later, Koratagere police combed the crime spot and found seven more plastic bags stuffed with body parts and the head on August 8.

They fixed the identity of the woman, Lakshmi Devi (42), with the help of the head.

The police found Lakshmi Devi (42) was brutally murdered and chopped into 19 pieces.

To trace the accused in the case, the Superintendent of Police Ashok K V formed a team which investigated and arrested Ramachandrappa, Satish K N and Kiran K S, all residents of Tumakuru.

During interrogation, the accused confessed that they had murdered Lakshmi Devi and, with the intention of destroying evidence, cut the dead body into pieces, packed them in plastic covers, and disposed of them at various places, Ashok said in a press release issued on Monday.

It is learnt that Ramachandrappa had doubts over Lakshmi Devi's character, causing embarrassment to him, which made him take the extreme step.