After nearly a year of investigation, the Bareilly police on Friday arrested the alleged “serial killer” who murdered six women over the past 14 months. The accused, Kuldeep, has confessed to the crimes, revealing that he began his killing spree in 2023, the police said.
The investigation uncovered that Kuldeep had a tumultuous childhood. His father remarried while Kuldeep’s biological mother was still alive. He endured trauma as his father abused his mother. This abusive environment affected Kuldeep’s mental health. When he got married in 2014, he repeated the abusive behavior forcing his wife to leave him.
Over a period of time, he developed a sense of hatred towards women which evolved into killer instincts.
Kuldeep admitted during interrogation that his hatred for women drove him to murder them if he found them alone in sugarcane fields. If he was spotted trailing a victim, he would abandon the pursuit for that day and attempt to kill her later, according to a report by Times Now.
According to the police, the victims were strangulated to death with their sarees when they tried to thwart Kuldeep’s sexual advances. After the murder, he would keep one of their belongings like a sickle, lipstick, bindi.
Over the past 14 months, the district of Bareilly witnessed the murders of at least nine women under strikingly similar circumstances, prompting fears of a serial killer in the area. The bodies were discovered within a 25km radius across two police station jurisdictions, causing widespread alarm among villagers.
The victims, aged between 45 and 55, were found strangled in fields, their clothing in disarray but without signs of sexual assault. Uttar Pradesh DGP Prashant Kumar confirmed to TOI that the possibility of a serial killer had not been ruled out due to the consistent methods used in the murders.
Following several leads, the police released sketches of three suspects after interviewing farmers from 90 villages. The first murder occurred in June 2023, with the most recent victim found on July 3. The murders followed a consistent pattern: strangulation around noon, bodies left in fields, and no evidence of sexual assault.
The police suspected that the three men initially detained might not be the actual perpetrators, as the murders continued while they were in jail. Consequently, senior officials reviewed records of recently released or bailed prisoners.
The police launched “Operation Talash,” deploying 22 police teams and implementing an extensive search operation. They also deployed decoys in the villages to capture the suspect, eventually making a breakthrough with the help of the previously released sketches. The investigation involved scanning 1,500 CCTV cameras and installing an additional 600 new ones before finally arresting Kuldeep.
