M. Jaishankar

M. Jaishankar (1977 – February 27, 2018), nicknamed Psycho Shankar, was an Indian criminal, sexual predator, and serial killer, notorious for a series of rapes and murders during 2008–2011.[1] It is believed that he was involved in about 30 rape, murder, and robbery cases across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.[2] At the time of his death, he had been accused of murdering at least 19 women.[3]

M. Jaishankar
Born1977 (1977)
Kanniyanpatti, Tamil Nadu, India
Died27 February 2018(2018-02-27) (aged 40–41)
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Cause of deathSuicide
Other names"Psycho Shankar"
Details
Victims19+
Span of crimes
2008–2011
CountryIndia
State(s)Tamil Nadu, Karnataka
Date apprehended
September 2009

Having been apprehended by Indian authorities, Jaishankar was imprisoned in Bangalore, where he was diagnosed as mentally ill.[4] He subsequently committed suicide following an unsuccessful prison escape attempt in February 2018.[5][6]

Early life

Jaishankar, a son of Maari Muthu,[5] came from the Kanniyanpatti village of Salem district, Tamil Nadu.[7] In May 2011, he was reported to be a married man with three daughters.[8] He started his career as a truck driver.[9]

Criminal history

Jaishankar started his criminal activities around 2008.[10] His first crime to be reported happened on 3 July 2009, when he attempted to rape and murder 45-year-old P. Shyamala in Perandahalli.[11] By August 2009, he had raped and murdered 12 women, and raped another six women. He always carried a black hand bag with him. He kept a machete in this bag, and killed whoever resisted him. He used to kidnap sex workers near dhabas (roadside restaurants) on highways, rape them and kill them brutally. He also targeted women in farm houses, in rural areas.[12]

First arrest (2009)

On 23 August 2009, Jaishankar raped and murdered a 39-year-old police constable, M. Jayamani. Originally stationed at the Kangeyam all-women police station, Jayamani was on temporary duty at Perumanallur, during the visit of deputy chief minister M. K. Stalin. Jaishankar kidnapped her, and raped her several times before killing her. The police recovered Jayamani's body a month later, on 19 September.[9]

Jaishankar and his partner in crime P Mohan Selvam were charged with the murder of 50-year-old K. Thangammal Ponnaya in Namakkal on 10 September 2009. (Later, in 2014, the two were acquitted in this case, due to insufficient evidence resulting from lapses in investigation.[13])

The Tiruppur police launched a manhunt for Jaishankar, and arrested him on 19 October 2009. He was jailed at the Coimbatore Central Prison. By this time, he had been charged with 13 separate counts of rape and murder in Tiruppur, Salem and Dharmapuri.[9] He revealed, while remanded in custody, that he enjoyed torturing women before he raped and killed them.[12]

First escape (2011)

On 17 March 2011, the police took Jaishankar to a fast-track court in Dharmapuri, for a murder case trial. The next day, armed reserve police constables M. Chinnasamy and Rajavelu were assigned to escort him back to Coimbatore. On the way, Jaishankar managed to escape at the Salem bus stand, around 9:30 p.m. On 19 March, Chinnasamy shot himself.[9]

2011 murder spree in Ballary

Jaishankar escaped to Karnataka, where he raped and murdered six women in Bellary over the next month. He also killed a man and a child in Dharmapuri. In the last week of April 2011, the police traced his mobile phone to Delhi. The police initially believed that he had discarded his mobile phone in Delhi.[9] However, in May 2011, the police traced his mobile calls to Mumbai, but he stopped using his mobile phone. A special team, comprising two sub-inspectors and 15 other police personnel, was assigned to find and arrest him.[14]

Second arrest (2011)

By May 2011, the police had put up wanted posters seeking information about Jaishankar, in public places across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. On the night of 4 May 2011, Jaishankar reached Elagi village in Karnataka, on a stolen motorcycle. He approached a woman, Chandrakala Hotagi, who was working alone in a field, and asked her for water and food. He then tried to rape her, but Chandrakala raised the alarm. Her husband, Prakash Hotagi, and a friend came to her rescue. Jaishankar tried to flee, but was caught by Prakash and other villagers. The locals brought him to the Zalaki police station. He was handed over to the Chitradurga police on 5 May 2011.[15]

Second escape (2013)

After his 2011 arrest, Jaishankar was kept at the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail in Bangalore. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison.[1] At the Bangalore jail, he underwent treatment for psychiatric problems.[11] On 31 August 2013, the police took Jaishankar to the court in Tumkur near Bangalore. After returning, Jaishankar feigned uneasiness and was admitted to the hospital within the prison premises. He managed to secure a duplicate key and used it at 2 a.m. on 1 September 2013, when the daily change of guards took place. The police suspected that an insider helped him get the duplicate key.[1] He scaled a 20-foot (6.1 m) wall, then walked atop a 15-foot (4.6 m) wall and finally scaled the 30-foot (9.1 m) high compound wall. He managed to cross the electric fence safely, since it was not functional that night.[16] He reportedly carried with him a bamboo pole balancing on the walls and a bedsheet to serve as a cushion over the glass pieces on the wall top.[17] He was injured during the escape, and drops of blood were found outside the outer wall.[18] He was reportedly wearing a police uniform during his escape. 11 jail staff, including three wardens, two jailors and six security guards, were suspended following his escape to reprimand them for allowing the escape.[19]

The police issued a red alert to all police stations in Karnataka, and urged women to be careful in isolated places.[12] They announced a reward of ₹ 500,000 for any information leading to his arrest. They also analyzed his psychology and life history to predict his next actions.[1] Besides this, the police printed 10,000 wanted posters and 75,000 pamphlets with different photographic profiles of Jaishankar, in five languages — Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. Besides Karnataka, these posters and pamphlets were distributed across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra.[20]

Third arrest (2013)

During his escape, Jaishankar had fractured his leg while jumping from the 30-foot (9.1 m) high wall of the prison compound. He did not contact his family in Tamil Nadu. Soon after his escape, a police informant managed to get in touch with him. The informant lured him to a dilapidated building near the Kudlu gate in Bangalore, with the promise of a motorbike to facilitate his escape outside the city. There, the police arrested Jaishankar, at noon on 6 September 2013.[1] The Government spent over ₹ 75,000 treating his fractured leg at the Victoria Hospital, where he was operated on, on 23 September.[21]

The surgery on his leg having been completed, Jaishankar was sent to Central Prison, Bangalore to begin serving his sentence. He was kept in a high-security cell, with 24/7 CCTV monitoring and extra lights. The lock of his cell was designed to be out of his reach. It was decided that in case of an illness, he would be treated inside his cell, instead of being taken to a hospital. The police also decided to deploy extra security while escorting him to trials to minimize the likelihood of an escape.[1]

Death

On 25 February 2018, Jaishankar unsuccessfully tried to effect another escape from the Bangalore Central Prison. After this plot failed, he was held in solitary confinement.[22]

Subsequently, on 27 February, he committed suicide by slitting his own throat with a shaving blade,[6] which he had acquired from a barber the day before.[6] The jail staff found him lying in a pool of blood at around 2:30 a.m.,[23] during their daily rounds, and provided him first aid. He was later moved to Victoria Hospital, where he was declared dead at 5:10 a.m.[5]

See also

References
  1. TS Sudhir, Rohini Swamy and Shreesha Reddy (6 September 2013). "Psycho Shankar – How the serial rapist and killer was nabbed". India Today. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015.
  2. Kestur Vasuki (6 September 2013). "5 days on, runaway serial rapist still at large, jail staff under lens". The Pioneer. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015.
  3. Subburaj, A (3 May 2011). "Coimbatore serial killer traced to Mumbai". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 12 July 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  4. "30 rapes, 15 murders and prison break. Dreaded psycho rapist escapes from Bangalore jail". India Today. 2 September 2013. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015.
  5. "Serial rape convict M Jaishankar, known as 'Psycho Jaishankar' commits suicide in Bengaluru's Central Prison". The New Indian Express. 27 February 2018.
  6. "Serial rapist Jaishankar found dead in jail cell at Bengaluru Central Prison". 27 February 2018. Archived from the original on 28 February 2018 – via www.thehindu.com.
  7. "Rapist, murderer 'Psycho' Shankar found dead in Bengaluru prison, cops suspect suicide". The News Minute. 27 February 2018. Archived from the original on 28 February 2018.
  8. A Subburaj (5 May 2011). "Serial killer held in Karnataka". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 October 2016.
  9. "Criminal rapes, kills 6 women after escape from Salem". The Times of India. 28 April 2011. Archived from the original on 28 September 2016.
  10. Praveen Kumar (28 February 2008). "Bed-ridden and 'Lonely', rapist Psycho Shankar slits his throat". Bangalore Mirror.
  11. "M Shankar alias Jaishankar has no control over criminal instinct". The Times of India. 2 September 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016.
  12. "Bangalore: Watch out, there's a psycho on the loose". DNA. 3 September 2015. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015.
  13. "Namakkal Court Acquits Jaishankar in Murder Case". The New Indian Express. 1 February 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015.
  14. A Subburaj (3 May 2011). "Coimbatore serial killer traced to Mumbai". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 12 July 2015.
  15. Firoz Rozindar (5 September 2013). "This family fears revenge by serial rapist". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 30 August 2014.
  16. "Serial rapist-killer Jaishankar planned escape over two months". The Times of India. 7 September 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016.
  17. "Prison wall not high enough to stop serial rapist". Deccan Herald. 2 September 2013. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015.
  18. Vijay Shankar (6 September 2013). "B'lore: Serial pyscho-killer Jaishankar arrested". One India. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015.
  19. "Runaway serial rapist-killer Shankar held". The Pioneer. 7 September 2013. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015.
  20. "Serial rapist killer Jaishankar arrested five days after sensational escape". India TV. 6 September 2013. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015.
  21. "Rs 75K spent on serial rapist-killer's surgery". Bangalore Mirror. 23 September 2013. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015.
  22. "Serial rapist, murderer Jayashankar commits suicide in central jail". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018.
  23. "Serial rapist & killer commits 'suicide' in prison". Press Trust of India. 27 February 2018. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018 – via Business Standard.
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