Indian Serial Killer And Cannibal : Raja Kalander

In 2000, India was grappling with several murder cases, including the 'Tandoor Murder case.' In the same year, there was another murder case involving Raja Kolandar, who had terrorized people by instilling fear in them from within. It was a case of cannibalism, which had never happened before in India, and upon hearing about this incident, people started fearing going anywhere alone. The reason behind this was that the murderer had committed more than 14 verified murders and would consume a soup made from the brains of the victims. To hear the complete story of this horrific murder case, stay tuned in the video.

The story of the murder case I have brought to you today reveals that the game of killings had begun even before the year 2000. However, this case came to light when a renowned journalist, Dheerendra Singh, suddenly went missing on December 14, 2000, from Kidwai Nagar in Prayagraj. As a journalist, his life was quite busy, and he used to stay outside for several days due to work, which was common for a journalist. Initially, there was no concern in his family because there was no communication for a day or two. But when he did not contact any of his family members for several days, everyone became worried, and they started contacting his acquaintances to search for him. Since no clues were found about Dheerendra, his family lodged a complaint of his disappearance at the police station.

Being a high-profile case, the police worked swiftly on it. The case was handed over to Naini's senior jail superintendent, P.N. Pandey. When the police started checking Dheerendra's call records, it was discovered that shortly before his disappearance, two calls were made from his mobile phone. The first call was made to a Member of Parliament's son, and the second call was made to a house in Cheoki village (which is approximately 7-8 kilometers away from Kidwai Nagar). The police took the MP's son for questioning and traced the address of the house from where the call was made in Cheoki village.

While searching for the location of the last call in the village, the police found out that the person with whom Dheerendra had spoken before his disappearance was Phoolan Devi. She was a member of the district panchayat of that village and had a good reputation in the community. When asked about her family, Phoolan Devi informed that her husband, Ram Niranjn, worked as a driver at the ordinance factory in the same village, and they had three children. When questioned about the night of Dheerendra's disappearance and the call, Phoolan Devi stated that as she was a member of the district panchayat, Dheerendra would often contact her regarding news coverage. She said that she had no knowledge of his sudden disappearance. After finding a valid reason, the police did not suspect Phoolan Devi and her family and left the village.

Since no evidence was found for many days, the police started investigating other missing persons' cases in the village that had occurred a few months prior. These reports were about ordinary people, so the police did not take them seriously initially. However, after examining the call records of the missing individuals, it was discovered that every person had some connection with Phoolan Devi in one way or another, and most of them had communicated with her using the same phone number.

Flower Devi and her family became suspicious and deeply worried due to this, and the police took them all into custody, including their three children, her brother Vaksharaj, and her husband Ram Niranjan. The police began questioning each member of the family individually about the missing persons. Every member of the household was giving clear answers to the police, except Vaksharaj, Flower Devi's brother. Vaksharaj was very nervous while answering the questions, which raised suspicion in the police. The police noticed that Vaksharaj was wearing an expensive watch and shoes. When asked about it, Vaksharaj initially denied but eventually revealed that he received them as gifts. The police doubted his statement and decided to inquire with Dheerendra's family about the watch. To their surprise, it turned out that the watch belonged to Dheerendra. Based on this and the shoes, the police determined that someone from the family was involved in some way in these missing cases.

Along with growing suspicions on Ram Niranjan and Vaksharaj, the police intensified their questioning. Vaksharaj broke down and provided all the information to the police. Then the police began interrogating Ram Niranjan, who agreed to share all the details related to the incident. However, he needed something to eat before doing so. The police officers agreed and asked him what he would like to eat. In response, Ram Niranjan said he wanted to have lentils, and he would cook it himself in a pressure cooker. Upon hearing this, all the police officers were astonished and couldn't believe what they were witnessing.

After fulfilling Ram Niranjan's food request, the police started their interrogation. Ram Niranjan shared all the intricacies related to the incident, and everyone was taken to his farmhouse, which was located a little distance away from their home. This farmhouse was built in an empty space far from the village, where there was very little coming and going of people. Since Ram Niranjan's wife, Flower Devi, was a member of the district panchayat, Ram Niranjan used this farmhouse for campaigning during elections, where he would put up banners related to the elections. When the police took him there, Ram Niranjan's behavior suddenly changed, and he came forward with a slightly authoritative tone and said to the police officers, "This is Raja Kolandar's court. Here, Raja Kolandar delivers justice for people's mistakes." The police officers couldn't fully comprehend his statement but followed him. Ram Niranjan then began to dig the ground slowly, and from there, he pulled out something that made all the police personnel shudder. In both of Ram Niranjan's hands, there was a human skull, still infested with worms. The skull was also painted with different colors. He took out several skulls one by one from there and said, "These have been punished by Raja Kolandar himself."

The police came to know from all these things that Ram Niranjana is the only person who knows about the disappearance of all the people. When asked about Dhirendra, Ram Niranjana takes them outside Uttar Pradesh to Rewa, which is located in Madhya Pradesh, and tells them that he had taken Dhirendra's body to a deserted jungle and threw it into a pond. When the police searched, they found Dhirendra's body and saw that his head and genitals had been severed.

After seeing the brutally murdered Dhirendra and learning all these details, it becomes evident that who is Raja Kolandar after all? Upon hearing Ram Niranjana's further statements, the eyes of the police officers open wide. Ram Niranjana says in a low voice, "We are Raja Kolandar." Now it was clear that there is no one else but Ram Niranjana himself is Raja Kolandar. However, all these things do not hold up in court. That is why the police needed proper evidence that can prove that Ram Niranjana is indeed Raja Kolandar and he has killed all these people.

In reality, Ram Niranjana belongs to the Kol community, also known as Kolarian. This community is one of the indigenous tribal communities of India. The people of the Kol community are mainly settled in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh states. That is why Ram Niranjana started considering himself as the king of the Kols and named himself Raja Kolandar. Based on this, he also changed his wife's name to Phoolan Devi, who was an Indian dacoit, and later became a Member of Parliament. Raja Kolandar also had three children whose names he changed to Adalat, Zamanat, and Aandolan.

As the police were busy collecting evidence, they came across a small diary in their hands titled "Raja's Diary." Upon further inspection, they found a name written on every page of the diary, and all the names were crossed out, starting from Kali Charan Srivastava's name at the beginning and ending with Dhirendra Singh's name. A total of 14 names were written in that diary. During the interrogation, Ram Niranjana slowly revealed all his secrets to the police. He revealed that he had committed his first murder of his friend, whose name was Kali Charan Srivastava. In fact, Kali Charan Srivastava also worked with Ram Niranjana in the ordinance factory, and he informed that Kali Charan Srivastava once borrowed 30,000 rupees from him and said he would return it in a few days. Believing him to be a good friend, Ram Niranjana gave him the money, but despite repeatedly asking for it, Kali Charan Srivastava did not return the money. Ram Niranjana mentioned that Kali Charan Srivastava was a businessman and had once told him that it is not easy to extract money from a businessman's pocket. This statement deeply affected Ram Niranjana, so due to not getting his money back despite repeated requests, he first planned to kill his own friend, involving his cousin Vakhraj in the plan as well.

Ram Niranjan invited Kali Charan Srivastava to his farmhouse to discuss the completion of a project. They sat together and talked for a while. After some time, Ram Niranjan sent Vakshraj inside on the pretext of getting some food and drinks. Vakshraj knew exactly what to do once he went inside. He brought a gun hidden in his coat and, at that moment, he engaged Ram Niranjan in a conversation, distracting him completely. Kali Charan Srivastava had no idea that Vakshraj had quietly approached him from behind and placed the gun on his head. Without any hesitation, Vakshraj fired two shots directly into Ram Niranjan's head, causing his instant death. In a matter of minutes, Kali Charan Srivastava succumbed to his injuries. It was later revealed and proven in court that Vakshraj and Ram Niranjan had severed Kali Charan Srivastava's head from his body. Ram Niranjan even boiled his brain and drank the soup made from it. Ram Niranjan confessed that he believed a businessman's mind is much sharper than that of an ordinary person and he wanted to enhance his own intellect in the same way.

In the diary, another name was written: Moin, a Muslim man who had borrowed 25,000 rupees from Ram Niranjan. When Moin failed to repay the loan, Ram Niranjan devised a plan to kill him as well. By luring Moin into his farmhouse and confusing him with his words, Ram Niranjan brought him to the same fate as Kali Charan Srivastava. Ram Niranjan explained that Moin was a Muslim and had knowledge of black magic. He believed that Moin possessed the ability to control anyone he wished, so Ram Niranjan made Moin's brain into a soup and consumed it, hoping to gain the power to control others. Later, when it was time to dispose of the bodies, Ram Niranjan intentionally threw them into the Ganges River, so that as a Muslim, Moin's soul would not find peace.

As they say, "Once blood gets into a lion's mouth," Ram Niranjan's mouth had also tasted blood. He was no longer afraid of taking anyone's life. Once, when his wife Phoolan Devi fell ill, he and Vakshraj rented a Tata Sumo to take her to a hospital in the city. On their way back to the village after Phoolan Devi had seen the doctor, Ram Niranjan realized that he didn't own a vehicle, which caused him many problems. Therefore, the first thought that came to his mind was that he needed the Tata Sumo, and by any means necessary, he wanted to take the car with him. He shared this plan with Vakshraj, and together they killed the driver and disposed of his body along the road. Phoolan Devi witnessed the entire scene with her own eyes and learned that day how cruel Ram Niranjan truly was. This statement from Phoolan Devi played a crucial role in ensuring that Ram Niranjan received the punishment he deserved.

It was also heard that Ram Niranjan had committed the murder of a Brahmin due to the following reason: he had heard that Brahmins consume excessive food because their stomachs are larger than those of ordinary people, and he wanted to verify this claim by measuring the length of their intestines himself.

When the trial began in court, Ram Niranjan admitted that he had killed journalist Dhirendra Singh because he believed that Dhirendra had discovered all his dark secrets and could publish them in his newspaper.

Ram Niranjan and Vaksh Raj were charged in February 2001, and since then, they have been imprisoned, only being brought out for court dates. It took the police a full 12 years to gather evidence and present it in court. Considering all the evidence, Judge Mehtab Ahmed of the Allahabad High Court sentenced Ram Niranjan and Vaksh Raj to four years of rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a life sentence.