A Sessions court here on Thursday convicted serial killer Chandrakant Jha for three murders committed in 2006 and 2007. Chandrakant would dump headless bodies and torsos of his victims near Tihar Central Jail during 2006 and 2007, and write letters or make phone calls to dare cops to catch him if they could.
Forty-four-year-old Chandrakant, hailing from Madhepura in Bihar, was convicted by Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau for the murders of Amit, Upender and Dilip, and destruction of evidence, with the court relying extensively on circumstantial, forensic and electronic evidence.
On February 2, the court will hear arguments on sentence against Chandrakant who was acquitted in two murder cases in 2003 and 2007.
Amit was killed in October 2006, Upender in April 2007 and Dilip, a month later, in May 2007. Handwriting experts certified that it was Chandrakant’s handwriting in the various letters recovered by the police from near the crime scenes.
A phone booth owner also identified Chandrakant as the man who made calls to the police. Call-detail records also helped the prosecution to prove their case.
The Delhi police had filed three separate charge sheets in the three murder cases. Amit, Upender and Dilip were employees of Chandrakant, a vegetable seller. The police had alleged that Chandrakant would take good care of his victims but when he became annoyed with their activities he would tie their hands and feet and then strangulate them and chop their head and limbs. The police were able to zero in on Chandrakant as the main suspect in the case using the letters he wrote and the phone calls he made.
Earlier, the court had deferred the verdict in the case after Chandrakant had demanded that he be supplied a copy of the judgment in Hindi. The court had initially written a letter to the district judge seeking a person to translate the judgment but it found that the district courts had no translators.
