The body of a 26-year-old woman was found chopped into some 30 pieces and kept inside a fridge of an apartment in Bengaluru's Vyalikaval, the police said. Foul smell from the apartment drew the attention of neighbours, who called the police to check.
The police said it appears the body parts have been inside the fridge for some time. Additional Commissioner of Police (West) Satish Kumar said the body has been identified.
"We will give more information after an initial investigation. She had been living in Bengaluru, though she originally belonged to another state," Mr Kumar said.
A dog squad and a fingerprint team will secure the crime scene, while a team from the Forensics Science Laboratory (FSL) has been called, he said.
"It is a one-BHK house within Vyalikaval police station limits. The body of the 26-year-old girl was found cut into pieces and stored in a refrigerator. Prima facie, the incident did not occur today… We have identified the girl, but let us complete the initial investigation," Mr Kumar said.
The police team that reached the apartment first saw the 165-litre, single-door fridge turned on and running, and maggots had infested the body, news agency IANS reported.
The case has parallels to the macabre murder of 27-year-old Shraddha Walkar in Delhi in 2022. She was killed by her boyfriend Aaftab Amin Poonawala, 29, and her body was chopped into 35 pieces. Poonawala then threw the body parts in a forested area near their flat.
