Representative image of a serial killer.
Credit: iStock Photo
Chhattisgarh Police have arrested a mute man identified as Tejram alias Konda, claiming him to be a 'serial psycho killer'.
The 32-year-old accused who hails from Bhalukona village in Baloda Bazar district was arrested while he was working on his plan to target his third victim.
According to a report by The Times of India, Vijay Agrawal, Baloda Bazar SP said that the mute man who had killed two women already would target women living alone or away from their families or widows.
Killing at one location and then dumping the dead body at another was the accused's modus operandi. Tha accused would lose his temper if the victim rejected his sexual advances.
According to TOI, the SP said, "We had to involve a team of psychiatrists and psychologists as the villagers initially stopped cooperating with the police. The villagers held several meetings to refuse cooperation."
The two women killed by the man were - Anupam Bai, a 35-year-old and Gauri Bai Yadav, a 56-year-old in 2020 and 2023, respectively.
According to the publication's report, he would usually select houses which were located in isolated areas and use stones to crush the victims in their homes.
The police managed to crack the case based on scene inspections, circumstantial evidence and statements received from the villagers.
Sign language experts were too roped in, to make the arrest possible.
According to TOI, the accused's first victim Anupam was found dead near a tree on the banks of Mahanadi River.
Her body was discovered on May 29, 2020, with visible head injuries, scattered clothes and a blood-stained piece of dry wood nearby.
Police had then filed an FIR under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against an unidentified accused.
Gauri who was the accused's second victim was found dead on March 13, 2023, near a temple across a pond in the village.
The victim's body was found with head injuries and visible marks which showed that she was dragged. The police had then too, filed an FIR.
According to TOI, Kaushal Kishore Wasnik, DSP asserted that the first victim, who was pregnant during the Covid pandemic in 2020, was mentally disturbed and abandoned by her husband.
The accused had developed an illicit relationship with her but when he approached her for sexual favours, the victim rejected him which led to him killing her in a fit of rage.
In the second murder, the accused tried to take advantage of Gauri who was lonely as her sons used to work in Banaras.
When she shouted and cried for help, Tejram struck her head using a sickle.
He then dragged her to another location and then crushed her head to death.
The police recovered the stones and other weapons used by Tejram to kill the two women and then presented him before the court on September 6, 2024.