9 Infamous Indian Criminals and their Mental Health

Nothing justifies taking an innocent life, let alone taking multiple lives. But if you separate the crime from the criminal, you might unravel a life full of trauma and struggle of an individual who could’ve turned out to be different. This is not me being the devil’s advocate but analyzing the with everyone, the mental condition that the person goes through while committing a crime. Or what leads a person to take a human life.

So, here’s me listing 9 of India’s Famous Criminals and their Mental Health. Also, you would notice that these are all men. The reason for that being, it’s Men’s Mental Health Month. We will collate another post for women as well.

Note: I'm not a psychiatrist or a psychologist. The information that I'm sharing is from various news and evaluation reports available online. Hence, these may not be the accurately correct and are subjected to change.

9. Umesh Reddy

Born in 1969 at Basappa Malige Vilage in Chitradugra District of Karnataka, Umesh Reddy was a Serial Rapist who confessed to have raped and killed more than 18 women between 1996 to 2002. He was convicted in 9 cases among those and is now serving life in prison for his crimes.

Umesh was a calculative criminal. He would usually prey on women during afternoon when there won’t be men will be at work. He would gain access into the properties on pretext of asking about an address or just water. He would then threaten the victim with a knife, tie them up, rape and kill them before fleeing the place with their jewelry and innerwear. Sometimes, he would continue his sexual acts even after killing the victims.

Umesh Reddy would escape prison multiple times over the years. He was so perverted that every time the police would nab him, they found him wearing his victims’ bra and panties under his clothes. Not only that, but he also had gunny bags full of women’s bra, panties and lingerie in his room which was found by the police.

As per The Times of India, Umesh Reddy was a Sociopath. Apart from that, he showed signs of necrophilia and transvestic fetishism. Necrophilia is a mental condition wherein the person feels sexual attraction towards a corpse. Transvestic fetishism is a mental state wherein a person dresses up like the opposite gender to attain sexual arousal, contentment or even cure depression.

8.Chandrakanth Jha

Chandrakanth Jha was a serial Killer in Delhi who was active between 1998 to 2007. He would befriend migrant laborers from Bihar and UP. Later, he would pick fights with them over minor issues, kill them, and dismember their bodies. He would also randomly mock the police by leaving dismembered body parts outside Tihar jail with notes daring the police to catch him.

Known as the Butcher of Delhi, Jha is said to have victimized about 18 people and was given two death sentences with one life imprisonment. Later, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment without remission. His multiple requests for parole were denied over the years. Chandrakanth Jha is the subject of Netflix Docuseries “Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi.”To understand Jha’s mental situation, you need to go back in time. His parents would struggle to make ends meet and usually relied on petty crimes. This exposed him to a life of crime from a tender age. Later, he moved to Delhi where he worked as a hawker but was falsely accused of trying to kill a man and jailed for three years. While in prison, he was regularly abused and tortured by inmates and constables.

The absence or a positive figure and psychological trauma he endured since childhood, led him to go on the murderous spree. When gone through a psychological analysis, Jha suffered from Psychopathy, Anti-Social PersonalityDisorder and even showed symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

7.Cyanide Mohan

Mohan Kumar Vivekananda was a primary school teacher from Karnataka. On the flip side, nicknamed as Cyanide Mohan, he is a serial killer who preyed on women between age 21 to 35. He would find women with weak financial household who were unable to afford dowry or find a suitable groom. He would then manipulate them into believing his lies and promise to marry them without dowry.

Later Mohan would sexually exploit the women and kill them through cyanide poisoning and flee with all their jewelries. He would feed them contraceptives laced with Cyanide. Apart from killing about 20 women with the same MI, he was also involved in Bank Frauds through forgery. Mohan Kumar was the subject of Amazon Prime Series Dahaad.

The sad part about our Indian media is that they highlighted his crimes, but nobody ever tried to interview the person or investigate into what lead him into this path. There is very little information available about Cyanide Mohan’s life online.

Some say, he had a troubled childhood because of an abusive father and had a history of mental illness. There were times people believed that he was capable of violent behavior.  But judging by his modus operandi of being manipulative and luring women, he can be considered someone who suffers from Psychopathy, Anti-Social Personality Disorder and even a little bit of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

6.Amardeep Sada:

Most people believe that Mental Health Conditions develop as we grow. So, here’s the case of the Serial Killer who was just 10 Years Old when arrested. Residing in Begun Sarai, Bihar, India, Amardeep Sada or Amarjeet Sada was termed as the World’s Youngest Serial Killer at the time he was apprehended for his crimes. He had killed three children over a span of twelve months. One of his victims was his own sister.

Sada was described as sinister and remorseless by the cops when they tried to interview him. He would smile at them and ask for biscuits and showed no sign of emotion when asked about how he killed his sister, Khushboo. The psychologist who assessed Amardeep Sada concluded that the child suffered from Psychopathy and Sadistic Psychotic Disorder. “He derives pleasure by inflicting pain and suffering on others.” They informed The Times of India.

5.Gowri Shankar (Auto Shankar)

Famously known as Auto Shankar, Gowri Shankar was a famous gangster and serial murderer from Tamil Nadu active throughout 1970’s and 80’s. Started by smuggling banned liquor in his auto, he moved on to prostitution. Shankar would eliminate people out of his way either through force or murder. He was responsible for the death of six people including his ex-wife. He was hanged at Salem Central Prison in 1995.According to Kavisht.com, Auto Shankar was a complex individual with a highly intriguing psychological profile. His highly manipulative and persuasive personality traits made him a successful Serial Killer. Shankar was also known for his ability to control and dominate people around him. He had a violent streak and enjoyed the power and control of being a Serial Killer.

Psychologically, Auto Shankar was said to be someone with Anti-Social Personality Disorder and Psychopathy as he had no remorse, guilt, or empathy for his victims. Apart from that, he was highly paranoid about trusting people around him or even the police and the judicial system. So, he also showed signs of Paranoia.

4.Raman Raghav:

Known to people as Sindhi Talwai, Anna, Thambi, Veluswami and most famously as Raman Raghav, he was a serial killer active in the mid-60s in Maharashtra. He has confessed to killing at least 41 people using a rod while they were asleep on pavements or outside homes. He mostly attacked people in slums. Raman Raghav was arrested on 27th August’1968 and was imprisoned for life in Yerawada Jail where he died on 7th April’1995.

According to a report by ABP Live News, Raman was diagnosed with Chronic Paranoid Schizophrenia as confirmed by Dr Anand Patkar, a psychiatrist who spent 80 minutes with Raghav on August 5, 1969. Dr Patkar wrote to the court, "Over a number of years, the suspicious tendencies get exaggerated, organized, and systematized, and the patient tends to build up a suspicious world of his own," as quoted by The Indian Express.

Habituated to robbery and stealing since childhood, Raman admitted to having killed people after receiving a command from a "Duniya wireless" inside his head which was due to schizophrenia. This was also the reason why his sentencing was commuted from hanging to life imprisonment.

3.Charles Sobhraj:

Hotchand Bhawnani Gurmukh Sobhraj, famously known as Charles Sobhraj was a Serial Killer, Fraudster and a thief who preyed on Western Tourists on the Hippie trails of South Asia in the 70s. Nicknamed as “The Serpent”, “Bikini Killer” and “Splitting Killer”, Sobhraj has been the subject of multiple documentaries, docuseries, and biopics over the years.He began committing petty crimes as a thief in his teen years which kept on escalating as time went on. His victim counts ranges between 24 to 30. He was apprehended in 2003 but kept moving in and out of prison the whole time. Going by his charismatic ways and manipulative words, Charles Sobhraj was a brilliant Psychopath. When asked about his crimes, he would always talk his way out of it while portraying himself a victim of abandonment, dysfunctional family, and racism which leads people to believe that he showed characteristics of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Some psychologists would also call him someone suffering with Anti-Social Personality Disorder (APD).

2.Darbara Singh:

He would lure most kids with Chocolates or Sugarcane juice, take them to a secluded area, slit their throats and then attempted to rape the bodies. This was the Modus Operandi of one of the most heinous criminals of India, Darbara Singh. All his victims were kids of migrant laborers, and they were below 10 years. Unlike the criminals on this list, he did have a motive of killing.In 1996, Darbara Singh raped and attempted to murder the daughter of a Migrant Laborer. He was convicted for the crime in 1997 and was imprisoned till 2003. Although released on good behavior, Darbara Singh had grudge against all the migrant laborers because of this. The crimes he committed after that with the MI was his revenge on migrant laborers. His terror spanned from April to October 2004. After his arrest, he would narrate how he would celebrate his killings with Liquor and good food. He showed no remorse and said he would kill more kids had he not been arrested “so soon.” Judging by his pattern of killing and his beliefs, one can guess that Darbara Singh was someone suffering from Anti-Social Personality Disorder, wherein the person lacks compassion or regard for human life. Also, he would suffer from Psychopathy, Pedophilia, and Necrophilia.

1.Surinder Koli:

Surinder Koli was one of the prime accused in the Nithari Serial Killings that took place in 2006 at Noida. More than 19 underage kids and an adult woman were allegedly subjected to kidnapping, rape, murder, necrophilia, and even cannibalism by Surinder Koli who worked as a maid in the house. The level of involvement by his employer is still uncertain. However, his employer would regularly bring in sex workers home almost every night to party while Koli cooked for them. That started triggering his uncontrollable urge to have sex which later turned into a mental illness."After that, without realizing in my mind, bad feelings started coming… to kill and hack someone, that kind of bad feelings started coming in my mind," Koli said. "It used to control my mind absolutely.” He added. His confession to the media is available online. If you listen to it then you’ll realize that Surinder Koli suffered from Psychopathy which is defined as” Personality disorder characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, diminished empathy, and remorse, and disinhibited or bold behavior”. Koli also probably suffers from Necrophilia or Paraphilia as identified by WHO in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnostic manual. This is a mental health condition wherein a human shows sexual attraction towards corpses.