FOUR years ago a tankrik walked away free after a killing spree. There were no eye witnesses and the case was as good as closed. This September it was resurrected8212;through another round of murders.
When the Madhya Pradesh police arrested 47-year old tantrik, Narayan Sinh Thakur, two months ago for allegedly killing five members of a family, little did they realise they were on to something bigger. The tantrik confessed not just to these killings but also to ones he committed four years ago.
Narayan Sinh is now in prison and significantly, while he has already given a detailed confessional statement to the Madhya Police, last month he refused to make a confession before a magistrate8212;that would have been admissible evidence. The results of the scientific tests are now more important than ever in convicting him.
THE investigation of the case has given an insight into the mind of a killer. Scientists are trying to reach the dark corners of the mind of a man who committed eight murders but technically fails to fit the description of a serial killer. Reason: he is a man with a religious bent of mind, someone with a normal family life.
Then what were his motivations for strangulating and disfiguring members of two entire families, including young children?
The case of Narayan Sinh has become a test case for Indian criminology since investigators in the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI are confident that this once, the courts will admit the substantial scientific tests they are marshalling for his trial.
For the first time in the case of a henious killer, the Directorate of Forensic Science DFS in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, conducted a series of scientific tests including psychology testing and brain-mapping to pin him down.
The results of the psychology tests, accessed by The Sunday Express, are crucial since the first batch of murders were committed by the tantrik four years ago for which the CBI has no eye witness accounts.
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THE tantrik8217;s first victim in May 2000 was a trader Suresh Jain. On the pretext of getting him some cheap gold, Narain Sinh took the victim to Devas, gave him a sedative and then strangulated him with a nylon rope. After that, he killed Jain8217;s wife and sons in a similar fashion.
After putting the tantrik through a series of six psychology tests, this is what the DFS concluded about the first series of murders: 8216;8216;He eliminated all of them so that he remains undetected and was successful in doing so. He identifies his victims with skill and manipulates them in a convincing manner. A throughout control over his emotions are indicative of his determination to commit the crime and get away with it, treating the victim as a resource or object than a significant person.8217;8217;
IN September 2004, the tantrik struck again. The first to be killed was K K Shah near Devas. The following day, together with an accomplice, the tantrik killed his wife and six-year old daughter . The same day he tried to kill Shah8217;s other daughter and son. It was the child who survived who later gave the description of the killer to the police.
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CASE FILE
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DARKNESS VISIBLE
8226; On November 16, 2004, the CBI received the results of psychological assessment tests conducted on the tankrik
8226; He was arrested for murder on September 27, 2004, in Ujjain
8226; One of the observations of the DFS says 8216;8216;under the pretext of tantric activity, he has isolated himself from social, emotional life except for the basic neccesities8217;8217; |
On this series of killing, the DFS report says: 8216;8216;Weak victims are handled almost like objects rather than human beings. Two victims whom he perceived as strong are taken to a longer distance to a familiar place in his conceptual map.8217;8217;
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8216;8216;For these murders he was happy to operate with a partner rather than alone. This reflects the ambivalence he had because of the agony he has undergone after Suresh Jain8217;s family murder.8217;8217;
Therefore , says the report, he failed to 8220;take the necessary precaution to ensure that no victim survives.8221; It was this omission that finally got him caught.
