11 Indian Serial Killer Stories That'll Keep You Up At Night

*Shudder*

1. Beer Man

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Between October 2006 and January 2007, seven murders in South Mumbai were attributed to the Beer Man. The only connection between the killings were the bottles of beer he allegedly left next to all his victims. Although a person was arrested in connection to the deaths, he was released due to lack of evidence. The Beer Man is roaming the streets even today.

2. Darbara Singh

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Darbara Singh is a former Indian Army soldier who kidnapped, murdered, and sexually assaulted 23 children of non-Punjabi migrants in Jalandhar in 2004. He would lure the kids with food and sweets while their parents were away at work. He then proceeded to slit their throats and rape their dead bodies. He said that he had no remorse and that he "celebrated each of the killings with liquor and good food."

3. Cyanide Mohan

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"Cyanide" Mohan Kumar was a primary school teacher who murdered 20 women in southern Karnataka between 2005 to 2009. His modus operandi was convincing unmarried females that he would elope with them, and then getting them to sleep with him. The next morning, he got his victims to take a cyanide-laced contraceptive pill under the pretext of avoiding pregnancy, and ran off with their jewellery and belongings as they lay being poisoned to death. He is currently awaiting execution.

4. Cyanide Mallika

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Said to be India's first female serial killer, Cyanide Mallika murdered at least six women between 1999 and 2006. She would aim to befriend wealthy women from local temples, and eventually convince them to visit a temple located far away from where they stayed. She would also tell them to wear their finest clothes and jewellery to appease the gods. Once there, she would feed them prasad and "holy water" dosed with cyanide, and proceed to rob them. After first receiving a death sentence, her conviction was later reduced to life imprisonment.

5. Chandrakant Jha

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Under the pretext of providing them with jobs, Jha would lure migrant youths and provide them food and shelter. However, he would go on to kill them, dismember their bodies, and scatter their limbs around New Delhi at the slightest hint of provocation (in one case, just because he didn't like that the victim was non-vegetarian). On two occasions, he threw bodies right in front of Tihar Jail to taunt the cops. It is also alleged that, after killing his victims, he would stay in the same room and eat his dinner. Jha exhibited no remorse at his actions, and was sentenced to death by hanging.

6. Dr. Devendra Sharma

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Devendra Sharma was an ayurvedic doctor who, by his own confession, killed 30-40 taxi drivers in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan between 2002-2004. After making the cab drop him to a remote destination where his accomplices stood waiting, they would beat the driver to death and escape with his car. He said that he had nothing against drivers, but just enjoyed the bloodshed. Sharma and his two associates were convicted and sent to a prison in Gurgaon.

7. The Killer Sisters

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Under the instructions of their overbearing mother, Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit kidnapped 13 children between 1990 and 1996. They trained them to become pickpockets and indulge in other criminal activities. During this period, they allegedly killed nine of their abductees after they grew up and became harder to control. While their mother died in prison, the sisters became the first women to be hanged in independent India earlier this year.

8. The Joshi-Abhyankar Serial Murderers

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During 1976-1977, four college students – Rajendra Jakkal, Dilip Dhyanoba Sutar, Shantaram Kanhoji Jagtap, and Munawar Harun Shah – terrorised Pune with a spate of kidnappings, robberies, and murders. They broke into houses, held entire families hostage, and killed 10 people by strangulation in just over a year. All four murderers were hanged in Yerwada Jail in 1983. Anurag Kashyap's controversial movie Paanch is loosely based on this gang.

9. Kampatimar Shankariya

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In a year-long reign of terror in and around Jaipur, Shankariya allegedly killed over 70 men and women between 1977 and 1978. He would beat his victims to death with a hammer, and told the police that he killed purely for the pleasure. He was just 27 when he was subsequently hanged in 1979.

10. "Psycho" Shankar

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M. Jaishankar is one of India's most notorious serial killers of the 21st century. He has involved in 30 rape, murder, and robbery cases across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. He executed his killings with a machete that he always carried around with him in a black handbag. He broke out of prison twice before he was finally caught for good. He has been diagnosed as mentally ill, and is currently imprisoned in Bengaluru.

11. Auto Shankar

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Between 1988-1989, Gowri "Auto" Shankar abducted and killed at least six teenage girls in Chennai. At first, the cops thought the families of the victims had sold them into prostitution, but realised that something was amiss soon enough. After a schoolgirl complained about an auto driver trying to abduct her in front of a wine shop, the police went undercover at the store and caught him right after. It was found that he had cremated most of the bodies and strewn the ashes into the sea. He was executed in 1995.