Women residents fear staying alone at home in Bengaluru, want security tightened

Bengaluru: Two days after the discovery of the murder of 29-year-old Mahalakshmi in Vyalikaval, neighbours express concern over the safety in the vicinity. 

DH visited the spot on Monday only to be told by some women, living in the neighbourhood, that they now fear staying at home alone while others wanted safety measures to be tightened in the area.   

A woman, who lives with her husband and brother-in-law in the same building where the body of the woman was found, said she is now scared of being alone. “The men in the house go out for work and I stay at home alone. Although, I have stayed alone for years, this incident has shaken me up,” she said. 

A few women in the neighbourhood told DH that the CCTV cameras on the road are dysfunctional. The Shri Keramalu Veeranna Ashrama which is right in front of Mahalakshmi’s residence, too, does not have any surveillance cameras, they said.

Pradeep, from a nearby condiments store, said Mahalakshmi was his regular customer for more than four years. “She used to buy milk, curd and chikki regularly. In the last few months, she started coming more often,” he said. 

He said that Mahalakshmi must have been living in the same locality for a few years before shifting to the rented house a few months back, where her body was found. She was often seen with two of her friends.