Indian Predator Murder in a Courtroom is a true crime Documentary series on Netflix. It is written and directed by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni, produced by Vishal Jain and executive producers Samira Kanwar, Ashwin Rai Shetty, Vatsala Aron and Niharika Kotwal. There are 3 episodes in total with a runtime of about 53-58 minutes.
A criminal, Akku Yadav, was shockingly lynched in the middle of a packed courtroom by a group of women who claimed to be his victims. What was the truth behind this killing? Who was the real killer – the women, or Akku?
Indian Predator Murder in a Courtroom: Who Was Akku Yadav?
The official synopsis of the series reads, “In 2004, a brutal predator was lynched in a courtroom. This is the story of the community he terrorized — and the vengeance they unleashed.”
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Born as Bharat Kalicharan in the early 1970s, Akku Yadav grew up around the Kasturba Nagar slum that lay on the outskirts of Nagpur. A normal child of the neighbourhood, Akku had grown up from milkman’s son to local menace after his father’s death. He had two brothers—Santosh and Yuvraj, both of them were local criminals and Akku joined them as well.
At first, it started off as extorting money from people with his neighbourhood friends and later he started ruling a gang of criminals, whom he had met in prison and invited to his place later. They robbed, tortured, and killed people with impunity. Extortion was his main source of income and he would hurt people if they did not give him money or if they angered him in any way.
During his life as a criminal, Yadav murdered at least three individuals. He tortured and kidnapped people, invaded homes, and raped over 40 women and girls. He bribed police, giving them money and buying them drinks to convince them to let him continue committing crimes. As a result, the police not only refused to stop Yadav for many years but supported him.
It wasn’t until 2004, that a woman named Usha Narayane complained about him, after witnessing him raping a woman next door. But the police ignored their complaints and told Akku about it. Enraged by it, he with forty of his associates went to the Narayane’s house and surrounded it. Yadav carried a bottle of acid and shouted through the door that he would not harm Narayane if she withdrew the complaint.
Narayane barricaded the door and refused to surrender to him. She called the police but they never arrived. Meanwhile, Yadav continued to pound on the door and threaten her, saying: “I’ll throw acid on your face, and you won’t be in a position to file any more complaints! If we ever meet you, you don’t know what we’ll do to you! Gang rape is nothing! You can’t imagine what we’ll do to you!”
In response, Narayane turned on a cylinder of gas that the family used for cooking and grabbed a match. She warned that if they broke into the house, she would light the match and blow herself and all of them up. Hearing her fight for her life, the neighbours and other people of the slum stepped out of their houses and chased down all the goons.
For the next few days, the whole community came together and decided to take the action into their own hands, while searching for Akku Yadav. They even burnt down his house and looking at the public enrage, Akku decided to surrender to the police and go to prison, until the situation cooled down.
Why Was He Killed?
In the documentary, we get to know that prison was like a hostel for Yadav and he would do the same things again after coming back. Thus the people of Kasturba Nagar decided to kill the man once and for all, and stop living in terror. Thus when he reached to the courthouse for his trial, people came prepared with chilli powder and weapons – leading to his chase and ultimate death.
Five women were arrested immediately for killing him but released following demonstrations in the city. Every woman living in the locality claimed responsibility for the lynching. Usha Narayane was arrested and charged with murder, as were other women. A crowd of 400 women and more than 100 men and children gathered at the courthouse to support the women.
The crowd said they would not move until the women were granted bail. Finally, in 2012, Narayane was acquitted and in 2014, it was reported that all of the remaining accused in the Akku Yadav murder case were released due to a lack of evidence.
Indian Predator Murder in a Courtroom is currently streaming on Netflix.
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