Mounika (left) and Ravindra. The remains were found stuffed in a refrigerator at his home.

VISAKHAPATNAM: A 30-year-old married man, working with the Indian Navy in Visakhapatnam, was arrested on Monday for murdering a woman he was having an extramarital affair with and dismembering her body. He allegedly left a part of the body in his fridge at home and disposed of other parts. He later went to the Gajuwaka police station and confessed his crime.The accused, Chintada Ravindra, was reportedly in a relationship with the 31-year-old victim, identified as Polipalli Mounika, a resident of Sanjeevayya colony in Tatichetlapalem area of Vizag city. The gruesome crime took place at the residence of the accused on Sunday night while his wife was away visiting her parents.

Police said the accused called the woman to his rented flat in LV Nagar area of the city in the night after his wife left. They fought over some issue, during which Ravindra smothered Mounika to death with his hands. After killing her, he reportedly procured a knife through an online delivery platform and cut up the body into three parts.He kept the torso in the refrigerator, and packed the legs and hip portion in a trolley bag and hid it under the bed. He took the head and limbs to a secluded place at Darapalem, in the hilly and forested Simhachalam area of the city, and burned them with petrol.Accused then reportedly called a friend, who advised him to surrender. After taking him into custody, police rushed to his residence and recovered the remaining body parts. They also visited Darapalem and recovered the semi-burnt head of the woman.Vizag police commissioner Sankhabrata Bagchi said Ravindra, who is posted at INS Dega, is a native of Rajam in Vizianagaram district. “He came into contact with the victim through a dating application in 2021 when he was single and they developed a relationship. On the night of March 29 (Sunday), the accused called the victim to his residence in Gajuwaka, where they quarrelled during which he is suspected to have suffocated her,” Bagchi said, adding that Mounika may have made financial demands during their quarrel and may also have threatened to tell his wife about their relationship.Ravindra, in his confession, reportedly told the police that Mounika took around 3.5 lakh from him over four years. He got married in 2024 but continued his relationship with Mounika.Mounika’s father Venugopal dismissed the allegations of the accused. He said his daughter was a part-time employee with a bank and also worked with an event management firm. “She never depended on anyone for financial support. My daughter never told anyone that she was in a relationship. We have been trying to find a suitable match for her. Ravindra trapped my daughter, and brutally murdered her as he feared he may lose his job due to her,” he alleged. The victim’s relatives also tried to attack Ravindra during a crime scene reconstruction at the accused’s residence on Monday afternoon.