Polipalli Mounika’s mother knew something was wrong when her daughter stopped answering calls on March 29. By the next day, the 30-year-old’s body had been found dismembered and stored in a refrigerator, in a crime that has shocked Visakhapatnam.
The accused, a Petty Officer in the Indian Navy, later surrendered before the police, unable to dispose of the remains. He has been arrested on murder charges.
Mounika worked as an office subordinate at a bank on a contract basis. She also took up event management work part-time. Mounika was a resident of Sanjeevayya Colony in Thatichetlapalem.
According to the police, the accused, Chintada Ravindra, befriended Mounika through a dating app. The two had been in a relationship since 2021. Even after Ravindra married another woman in 2024, they continued their relationship, police said.
As Ravindra’s wife was pregnant and staying with her parents, he brought Mounika to his flat in LV Nagar, Gajuwaka, on the morning of March 29.
Police said the two had frequent arguments in recent times. During questioning, Ravindra alleged that Mounika had been demanding money from him. However, the police believe he wanted to eliminate her from his life and had planned the murder.
“As planned, he invited her to his home, deliberately picked a fight, and suffocated her to death,” Gajuwaka Assistant Commissioner of Police Y Srinivas Rao said. The murder took place at around 12.30 pm.
After the murder, the accused ordered knives through a delivery app, police said. “He dismembered the body into three parts, separating the head, hands, and legs,” the ACP said. The head and hands were stored in the refrigerator, while the legs were placed in a suitcase.
The accused allegedly planned to dispose of the body parts one by one. “He first took the head and hands in a bag to a secluded area near Adavivaram Road and burnt them using petrol,” the ACP said.
He intended to dispose of the remaining parts in a similar manner but was unable to do so. He later surrendered before the police and confessed to the crime.
The ACP ruled out the possibility of remorse, stating that Ravindra had attempted to clean the crime scene to evade arrest. “He washed off the bloodstains to avoid being caught,” he said. Police recovered the remaining body parts from the refrigerator and found others in a trolley bag and gunny bags.
Teams from the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL) and the CLUES team have been deployed to collect evidence.
Mounika’s mother told the media that she was unaware of her daughter’s relationship with Ravindra. On March 29, before leaving home, Mounika told her elder sister that she was going near RK Beach for an event.
“I called her at 11.15 am. It was ringing, but later it was switched off. She would always call back. If she was busy, she would inform us. We thought her phone had run out of charge. We waited all night. She never stayed out without telling us,” her mother said.
Responding to Ravindra’s claim that Mounika was demanding money, her mother said, “She had her own earnings. You can check her bank balance. She was self-reliant.”
Seeking justice, she added, “He should be sentenced to life. Who gave him the right to chop my daughter into pieces?”