Thug Behram – Arguably India’s most prolific assassin
Thug Behram was one of the most prolific killers in Indian history. Though Behram killed over 931 people from 1790 to 1840, he confessed of having killed only 125. He was the notorious leader of the Thuggee cult that traveled across central India. Thuggees used strangulating method to kill people. Behram was executed in 1840.
Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit – The Killer Sisters
Mother Anjanabai skillfully trained her daughters Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit as petty thieves. The trio were involved in theft and kidnappings of kids. They used abducted children to divert public attention while stealing. They murdered at least six toddlers and killed one of them by banging his head against an electric pole. The killers had also confessed that they didn’t exactly remember how many children they killed before the 90s. The half-sisters are on a death row.
Auto Shankar
The sinister man was born Gowri Shankar, later he quickly established his name as a transporter of illegal arrack (coconut liquor) from coastal hamlets and was also believed to be involved in the local flesh trade. He abducted and murdered nine teenage girls from Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai in a period of six months in 1988. In his confession, he tried to excuse the menace, a month before his execution saying that he was influenced by cinema. He was arrested but somehow escaped from Chennai Central Prison. He was again taken into the custody in Rourkela, Odisha. He was hanged to death along with two of his accomplices Eldin and Shivaji in Salem Prison in 1995.
The Nithari killer
Moninder Singh Pandher, a wealthy businessman from Noida and his manservant Surinder Koli were arrested in 2006 in connection with the skulls of missing children discovered in Nithari village in the outskirts of Noida. The “Nithari case” attracted immense mainstream media attention. There were wide protests raising demand of justice against the demonic deeds of the two. They were alleged with the accusations of rape, pedophilia, cannibalism and organ trade. The accused had undergone narco and brain mapping analysis. As of now, Surinder Koli accused of five homicides is on a death row, while Pandher is awaiting judgement.
Charles Sobhraj – The suave ‘Bikini Killer’
Charles Sobhraj, also known as the ‘Bikini Killer’ killed around 12 people across various place in South East Asia from 1975 to 1976. He used to dupe the potential victims by winning their trust by rescuing them from the problems that he himself had created in the first place. He inflicted the potential victims with his lethal charm that proved to be fatal for them. The two women he killed were found in floral bikinis earning him the title, ‘Bikini Killer’. He was arrested in India where he served a sentence from 1976 to 1997. Later, he returned to Nepal where he was arrested again in 2004. He is serving a second life sentence. It is believed that Shobraj would kill people to finance his luxurious lifestyle.
Akku Yadav
Akku Yadav was born as Bharat Kalicharan was lynched by a mob outside Nagpur District Court on 13th August 2004. The hundreds of women of the Kasturba Nagar drove out rape and murder accused Yadav. Akku Yadav was more of a local goon who had been charged with a slew of crimes against women. One of the women even hacked off his penis.
Cyanide Mallika
K D Kempamma alias Mallika was also known as Cyanide Mallika. She killed 6 women from 1999 to 2007. She used to pretend herself as the lady who was well versed with all the rituals. She consoled lower middle class women who were facing various domestic problems. She duped many rich women also and befriended them, suggesting them specific rituals to attain domestic peace. She offered them cyanide laced water in guise of holy water and robbed them of all their belongings. She is convicted of 7 murders. The police arrested her in 2007. In 2012, she was awarded a death sentence which was then reduced to a life sentence.
Raman Raghav
Raman Raghav was a psychopathic serial killer who committed most horrendous crimes mid-1960s in Mumbai. Raghav, the madman is believed to have killed over 30 people between 1965 and 1968, including his own sister who he raped and stabbed several time. After his arrest, police found that he suffered from schizophrenia. A series of brutal murders in the outskirts of Mumbai had terrorised the city in August 1968. He bludgeoned pavement and hutment dwellers to death with a sharp object during night hours while they were asleep. He died of kidney failure in 1995.
Amardeep Sada
Amardeep Sada, an eight year old boy, is known as the youngest serial killer of the country. He was accused of three murders. He killed his own sister who was less than an year old. He smashed the face of one of the victims and claimed her life. In a chilling confession in front of the villagers, he accepted that he had murdered and took them to the site of shallow grave where he had hidden the bodies. The reports said that the boy appeared to be a psychiatric case.
Mohan Kumar
Mohan Kumar alias Cyanide Mohan duped unmarried girls who were unable to pay dowry or find suitable husbands with a promise to marry them. He used to have sex with them and claimed their lives by giving them cyanide pills in form of contraceptives. He was accused of murdering 20 women during 2005 to 2009, he was sentenced to death in December, 2013.
Jaishankar
M Jaishankar, the machete killer is accused of 30 rapes and 15 murders in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka from 2006 to 2009. He, once even escaped from Bangalore Central Jail by scaling the high perimeter walls. He used to stab the victims using a machete. A truck driver by profession, he first targeted lonely women, especially highway prostitutes. He gained notorious name by committing a series of rapes followed by brutal killing in Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Tirupur, Erode and Namakkal Erode and Namakkal (all Tamil Nadu).
