Raman Raghav

Raman Raghav, also known as Sindhi Talwai, Anna, Thambi, and Veluswami, was a serial killer active during the mid-1960s, labelled by many as "Jack the Ripper of India." Raghav went on a killing spree for over three years, with the first round of murders taking place in 1965 and 1966 when 19 people were attacked, and a second round of killings taking place in 1968. He was caught by the Maharashtra Police on September 27. Raghav was spared a death sentence due to mental illness and was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment; he died in hospital while in prison custody in 1995.

Serial killings:

A series of murders occurred on the outskirts of Mumbai in August 1968. Pavement and slum dwellers were bludgeoned to death while they slept. All the murders took place at night and were committed using a hard, blunt object. [2]    A similar series of murders had taken place a few years earlier (1965–66) in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. In that year, as many as 19 people had been attacked, out of whom 9 had died. [2]

Police suspected Raman Raghav and arrested him. A homeless man, he had past mentions in the police files and spent five years in prison for robbery. As no solid evidence could be found against him for the new set of crimes, the police let him go. When the killer struck again in 1968, the police launched a manhunt for him. Ramakant Kulkarni, then the Deputy Commissioner of Police, CID (Crime), took over the investigation and spearheaded a massive combing operation in the city. In this attempt, the police were successful in arresting him.

In his confession, he admitted that he had murdered 41 people in 1966 along the GIP (Great Indian Peninsular Railway), as the Central Railway (India) was then known, line and almost a dozen in 1968 in the suburbs. However, it is likely that he killed many more. There was widespread public anxiety and panic in Mumbai.  Inhabitants of slums and apartments dreaded sleeping out in the open or with open windows and balconies.

Arrest:

Sub-inspector of police Alex Fialho recognized Raghav from reports and descriptions from those who had seen him. Fialho searched for him and detained him with the help of two respectable witnesses from the area. He claimed to be Raman Raghav, but old records disclosed that he had several aliases, including "Sindhi Dalwai," "Talwai," "Anna," "Thambi," and "Veluswami." The bush shirt and the khaki shorts that he had been wearing were bloodstained, and his shoes were extremely muddy. His fingerprints matched those on record and confirmed that he was Raman Raghav alias "Sindhi Dalwai." He was arrested under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code on charges of the murder of two persons, Lalchand Jagannat Yadav and Dular Jaggi Yadav, at Chinchawli village, Malad, Greater Bombay.

Investigation and trial:

The preliminary trial was held in the court of the Additional Chief Presidency Magistrate. For a long time, Raghav refused to answer questions. However, he began to answer their questions after the police fulfilled his request for dishes of chicken to eat. He then gave a detailed statement, describing his weapon and his modus operandi. After this, the case was committed to the Sessions Court in Mumbai.

When the trial started in the court of Additional Session Judge, Mumbai, on June 2, 1969, the defense counsel made an application that the accused was incapable of defending himself on account of unsoundness of mind, and he also submitted that even at the time of committing the alleged offenses, the accused was of unsound mind and incapable of knowing the nature of his acts or that they were contrary to the law.

Raman confessed to committing 41 murders. Post his confession, he took the police force on a citywide tour to show the places he operated in and to obtain the rod he had hid in the northern suburbs. [6]     The accused was therefore sent to the Police Surgeon, Mumbai, who observed him from June 28 to July 23, 1969, and opined that "The accused is neither suffering from psychosis nor mentally retarded." His memory is sound, his intelligence is average, and he is aware of the nature and purpose of his acts. "He is able to understand the nature and object of the proceedings against him and is not certifiably insane."

With this medical opinion, the trial proceeded. The accused pleaded guilty. During the trial, a psychiatrist from Nair Hospital, Mumbai, was cited as a defense witness. He had interviewed the accused in Arthur Road Prison on August 5, 1969, and gave evidence that the accused had been suffering from chronic paranoid schizophrenia for a long time and was therefore unable to understand that his actions were contrary to the law.

In defense, it was said, "The accused did commit the act of killing with which he is charged." He knew the nature of the act, viz., killing human beings, but did not know whether it was wrong or contrary to the law. The Additional Sessions Judge in Mumbai found the accused guilty of the charge of murder and sentenced him to death. Raman declined to appeal. Before confirming the sentence, the High Court of Mumbai ordered that the Surgeon General of Mumbai constitute a Special Medical Board of three psychiatrists to determine whether the accused was of unsound mind and, secondly, whether, in consequence of his unsound mind, he was incapable of making his defense.

The members of the Special Medical Board interviewed Raman on five occasions for about two hours each time. In their final interview, when they bade him good bye and attempted to shake hands with him, he refused to do so, saying that he was a representative of "Kanoon" (law) who would not touch people belonging to this wicked world. The examination report was as follows:

"Details about my childhood history are not available." There is no reliable history of mental illness in his family. According to the data available, he has been in the habit of stealing ever since he was a child. He hardly had any school education. He was known to be reclusive. Since his return from Pune in 1968, he had been living in jungles outside the suburbs of Mumbai. 

"X-rays of the skull, routine blood examination, serological tests for syphilis, cerebrospinal fluid examination, including tests for syphilis, urine and stool examination, and EEG examination were non-contributory." "He was of average intelligence, and there is no organic disease to account for his mental condition."

"Throughout the five interviews, he showed ideas of reference and fixed and systematized delusions of persecution and grandeur." The delusions that the accused experienced were as follows:

that there are two distinct worlds: the world of Kanoon and this world in which he lived.

a fixed and unshakable belief that people were trying to change his sex but that they were not successful because he was a representative of "Kanoon."

a fixed and unshakable belief that he is a power, or "Shakti."

A firm belief that other people are trying to put homosexual temptations in his way so that he may succumb and get converted to a woman.

That homosexual intercourse would convert him into a woman.

that he was "101 percent man." He kept on repeating this.

a belief that the government brought him to Mumbai to commit thefts and made him commit criminal acts.

"An unshakable belief that there are three governments in the country—the Akbar government, the British government, and the Congress government—and that these governments are trying to persecute him and put temptations before him." Raghav's sentence was reduced to life imprisonment because he was found to be incurably mentally ill. He was lodged at Yerwada Central Jail, Pune, and was under treatment at the Central Institute of Mental Health and Research. When a panel of doctors who examined him at the directive of the High Court found that he would never be cured, the High Court reduced his sentence to life imprisonment in its August 4, 1987, judgment. A few years later, in 1995, Raghav died at Sassoon Hospital. He had been suffering from kidney failure.