Indian Predator The Butcher of Delhi is the latest true-crime documentary series released on Netflix. It follows the events of 2006 when a series of mutilated bodies and taunting notes left outside a Delhi jail sends police hunting for a seasoned killer with a grudge against the system.
It is produced by VICE India, the series is directed by renowned film-maker Ayesha Sood with Srusti Jain and Nandita Gupta serving as the series producer and creative producer, respectively. There are 3 episodes in total with a runtime of about 41-44 minutes respectively.
Who Was the Serial Killer and How Did He Get Caught?
The first mutilated body of a man was found on 20 October 2006, in front of Tihar Jail gate number 3. The killer had even called back again to ask if the police has found any clues and frustrated by the slow progress, he asked for SHO’s number. While talking on the call he even mentioned that he had put the body there because officer Balbir Singh was stationed at that place.
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In the letter, he talked about being tortured and humiliated by the officer, while he was imprisoned for a false case. But due to a lack of evidence and a headless torso, the case went cold. Until another body was placed in the same position on 25th April 2007 and the body parts were thrown at different places.
And while police were investigating the second body, another body appeared on 18 May 2007. Similarly, it was a headless torso with arms, legs and even the genitals cut off. Parts were later recovered at different places but no heads were found anywhere. At last, with the help of their sources & informants, police were able to find a man who looked similar to the face sketch and description.
It leads them to a doctor, where the suspect might have been a visiting patient. The police officers went there under cover and just then the killer called the doctor to set up an appointment. This proved that doctor knew the suspect and took him to Tagore Garden police station for questioning. There the doctor revealed that the suspect’s name was Chandrakant Jha & even had 5 daughters.
He was supposed to come on the same day and they had missed him by a hair. The police make the doctor call Chandrakant again and set up another appointment at 4 pm, the next day. But he doesn’t turn up and the police were only left with the choice of tracing the call. The last call was made from the area of Alipur.
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Apparently, the doctor’s Brother-in-law was an acquaintance of the killer and almost got killed by him. On questioning him, he revealed that Chandrakant had a 3-wheel cart with an engine attached to it. Fortunately, the investigating officer was able to spot the cart while searching the Alipur area and soon after, the killer was arrested from his home.
Confessions In Custody
In custody, Chandrakant Jha promptly told everything to the police without any retaliation. He revealed that he was from Ghosai village in Madhepur Bihar and had a rough childhood. His parents didn’t care much about him, thus, he left for Delhi. He worked at the Azadpur vegetable market but was often harassed by police officers who would extort money from the hawkers.
In fact, in 1998, Jha murdered a man named Pandit after he got him locked up in a false case, after a fight. He put up his family in Alipur and had a base in Haiderpur, where all the murders happened. He would befriend his victim but would take offence at their mannerism like, lying or having a bad character and thus they became the prey.
But Jha was also a religious man and believed that if you kill a bad person then it was not a sin, moreover, he would dump the heads in the Yamuna river as Kalyan(welfare). His confessions helped police find the heads and evidence at the killing spot and identify the nameless bodies. The bodies found were of Anil Mandal, Upendra and Dalip respectively.
In 2013, he was convicted of the 3 murders and given the death penalty, which was challenged in High Court and commuted to life imprisonment.
Indian Predator The Butcher of Delhi is streaming on Netflix.
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