Serial killer on loose in India’s Bareilly? Nine women murdered in identical way in 14 months

A serial killer might be on the loose in the Bareilly district of northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh after nine women have been killed over the past 14 months.

The murders, conducted in identical manner, have transpired across a 25 km rural patch in the area - putting the residents and the law and order agencies on red alert.

Modus operandi of murders

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The victims are aged between 45 and 55 and have been found strangled in the fields around noon with their clothes dishevelled. However, there has been no sign of sexual assault so far. Interestingly, most of the victims were choked to death using the sarees they were wearing.

According to reports, the first murder took place in June last year and by November the kill count had risen to eight. The government hierarchy panicked and sent 300 policemen, divided into 14 teams of uniformed and plain cloth officials. Subsequently,three suspects were arrested but the murders continued.

After the November murder, there was a hiatus of seven months before the killer came out of hibernation by butchering a 45-year-old woman at a sugarcane farm in the Shahi Sheeshgarh area on July 3.

The victim has been identified as Anita, a resident ofBhujiya Jagir village in Shergarh. She had gone to her maternal in Fatehganj's Khirka village when she met her end.

Watch |Kenyan serial killer kills 42 women including wife & dumps their bodies at a quarry

What are the authorities saying?

Uttar Pradesh DGP Prashant Kumar informed that the police had been investigating the case for six months and recently released a sketch of three suspects.

“Our teams have been investigating this case for six months and have not ruled out the possibility of a serial killer due to the nearly identical modus operandi behind the murders. Based on some leads, we have now released sketches of three suspects,"Kumar told TOI.

Bareilly Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anurag Arya said the department had expanded its scope of the investigations. Officials are now scrutinising details of prisoners recently released or on bail.

“The pattern is clear, strangulation around noon, bodies dumped in farms, and post-mortem ruling out sexual assault. Our investigations, including electronic surveillance, have hit a dead end," said Arya.

(With inputs from agencies)