Killer of 18 Girls Arrested

22 October 2009

Gopal Hosur, the inspector general of police, said that Bantwal Police have arrested a serial killer who allegedly confessed to have murdered 18 girls during the past 5 years on October 21, Wednesday, near Deralakatte. 

The arrested has been identified as Mohan Kumar alias Anand (46), a resident of Kanyana in Bantwal. In 1980, he served as a teacher in a primary school near Angadi in Kanyana in Bantwal on a temporary basis and quit his job in 2003. After quitting his job, he began murdering girls one after the other. 

Most of the victims were innocent, unsuspecting girls from poor families. The killer used honeyed words to trap them into marriage or a relationship with the intention of raping and robbing them. Usually, the alleged killer gained the girls’ confidence by offering to marry them; and mostly, he married them at the nearest temple. He killed all the girls he married by giving them a cyanide tablet, claiming that it was a medicine to prevent pregnancy. 

Of the 18 victims, 4 were from Bantwal, 2 from Sullia, 3 from Puttur, 1 from Moodubidri, 2 from Belthangady, and 1 from Mangalore. Ten of them were killed in Mysore bus stand, 3 at Madikeri bus stand, 2 at Hassan bus stand, 2 at Bangalore bus stand, and 1 at Kollur temple in Udupi. The arrested says that he does not remember the names of some of his victims. Police believe that he might have killed many more girls than he claims. 

The unfortunate girls who were slain by the culprit were  Baby Nayak (25) from Peraje near Sullia, Sharada (24) from Kedila in Puttur, Kaveri (30) from Sampaje in Sullia, Pushpa(26) from Mulleria in Kasaragod, Vinutha (24) from Puttur, Hema (24) from Mittur in Bantwal, Anitha (22) from Barimar, Yashoda (26) from Madanthyar in Belthangady, Vijayalakshmi (26) from Kasaragod, Sarojini (27) from Uppala, Shashikala (28) from Kariangala in Bantwal, Sunanda (25) from Peruvaje near Sullia, Lelavathi (32) from Vamada Padav, Shantha (35) from Kankanady, Vanitha (22) from Nelyady, and Sujatha (28) from Mucchur near Bajpe. The names of two more girls, both of whom are from Kasargod, are yet to be ascertained from the offender.

Chandragupta, the assistant superintendent of police, said that the arrested has confessed that he used to kill the girls for their jewelry and also for sex. The offender had married thrice. He had divorced his first wife; while his second and third wives live in separate houses, one in Uppala and one at Deralakatte. 

The arrested used the same mode of operation to kill each girl. He would approach the girls and strike up a conversation with them, which would lead to friendship. Then he would offer to marry them without any dowry. One fine day, he would get married to the girl at a temple, take her to a lodge, and force her to have sex with him. The next morning, he would take the girl to the local bus stand after telling her that they were going to a temple and ask her to give him her jewelry for safe keeping. At the bus stand, he would give her a cyanide tablet, which he would claim to be a medicine to prevent pregnancy, and ask her to take it in the toilet of the bus stand. The innocent girls would obey him. After they collapsed, he would run away. The girls would then be shifted to the local hospital, where these cases would be registered as unnatural deaths. Most of the cases remained unsolved and were recorded as such. 

Police began investigating the case of a missing girl called Anita (22) from Barimaru village and obtained clues about the serial killer. They pursued these clues and discovered that the girl’s mobile set was being used by the killer. Subsequently, he was traced.

Police have seized 4 mobile phones, 8 tablets, and gold ornaments from the alleged killer. Police are yet to trace and arrest the provider of the cyanide as the aider and abettor of the crime.