A new book written by a former police officer and forensic psychologist delves into the minds of some of the most demented, cruel and emotionless serial killers of India.
‘These are men, women and even a child that killed repeatedly leaving entire communities and cities paralyzed in the grip of fear and compelled us to peek into the darkest recesses of our worst nightmares,’ the book’s introduction reads.
Written by former police officer Shirish Thorat and forensic psychologist Sampada Karandikar, this book analyses the serial killer phenomenon in India. It explains how each was caught, including an analysis of psychological profiles, a method of operation and their similarities to other serial killers in the world.
Mr Thorat as a police officer has interacted with some of the accused serial killers like Raman Raghav, Mallika and Mahanand Naik.
‘Serial killer phenomena in India is often ignored or not considered by society, media or other sections. We do not want to discuss it.
‘We avoid talking about how cruel and demented humans can be. But there has been a history of serial killers in India. One of the early serial killers in India, a woman, was convicted for serial murders, more than 100 years ago.
‘This is why I have written this book. We need to learn about these people and see how is India tackling them,” Mr Thorat told SBS Hindi.
Listen to the podcast:
(Warning: The podcast contains some disturbing description and details of conversation with a serial killer)
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, usually in service of abnormal psychological gratification.
‘There are four different categories of serial killers in India - visionary, mission-oriented, hedonistic and material comfort killers.
‘These killers often say they are being instructed by voices in their heads or are assigned to do this by a higher being,’ Mr Thorat says.
The book talks about serial killers in these categories and we also study them in comparison to the serial killers in Europe and the United States.
