Serial killer who dumped bodies outside Tihar held guilty

An alleged serial killer, who dumped the bodies of his victims outside Tihar Jail after cutting off their heads and limbs, was on Thursday held guilty of murder and destruction of evidence by a city court.

Additional sessions judge Kamini Lau held 44-year-old Chandrakant Jha, a vegetable seller, guilty of the murder of three men in 2006-07 on the basis of forensic and circumstantial evidence. Likely to be sentenced on February 2, Jha faces the prospect of the death penalty due to the nature of his offences.

According to the prosecution, Jha strangled three of his employees — Amit, Upendra and Dilip — after he "got annoyed" over "petty matters".

Jha was arrested in May 2007 after the murder of Dilip. Police said he had killed the three men, who were all his employees and in the age group 20-25 years, because they had "displeased" him.

"Initially, he gave them total protection and won their confidence. But during their stay with him, he took offence to their behaviour like drinking, eating meat, womanising, etc," police said at the time of his arrest.

The prosecution said that Jha would "tie the hands and feet of the victims before strangulating them". He would dismember the body and throw the pieces at various places.

Police had filed three separate chargesheets against Jha in the murder cases of Amit, Dilip and Upendra.

The bodies of Amit, killed in 2006, and Upendra and Dilip, murdered a year later, were thrown outside Gate No. 1 of Tihar Jail along with letters, daring the police to catch him.

"Letters found with two of the bodies challenged the system and the police. He said 'catch me if you possibly can' and that he would continue to kill," police told the court.

Jha also left a severed limb of one of his victims outside the Tis Hazari court premises in 2007. The decomposed head of another victim was recovered from the Yamuna river by police at his instance later.

Forensic examination of the room in which he admitted to have killed his victims found blood samples which were later matched with the bodies of his victims.

The police also found that his mobile phone location records placed him at the locations where the bodies were thrown outside Tihar Jail.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/serial-killer-who-dumped-bodies-outside-tihar-held-guilty/1064572/0