Murder convict got away with 21 killings

BANGALORE: After allegedly committing 21 murders in Maharashtra, Chandrakant S Sharma migrated to Bangalore where he killed his next victim, helped by his wife and two sons. This killing landed the family in jail in just three days. Sharma, though, is unlikely to be convicted for the earlier murders, for the Maharashtra police have closed all the 21 murder cases. Sharma, 54, his wife Harsha, 49, and son Monto Sharma, 27, were last month convicted for killing SV Raghavan, a retired Bescom engineer and resident of Nanjamba Agrahara in Chamarajpet on January 10, 2008. They are now serving life terms in Central Jail, Parappana Agrahara. The gory details of the earlier murders are coming out during interrogation. Sharma committed the 21 murders singlehandedly in various places in Maharashtra, between 1978 and 1981, before he migrated to Bangalore in 1985. He is said to have confessed before a police team headed by then inspector of KG Nagar police station, KP Gopal Reddy, who is now ACP, Malleswaram. Reddy visited several places in Maharashtra where Sharma had committed the murders, but ran into a wall. "During interrogation, Sharma confessed to killing 21 people between 1978 and 1981. We dispatched a team to Maharashtra to track his claims, but police have closed all the cases. Many of the files weren't even available as they had been destroyed," Alok Kumar, inspector general of police (public grievances) said. Sharma allegedly committed four murders at Pune's Hotel Amrapali alone. "He had learnt the knack of making his victims unconscious by administering chloroform. He stabbed some of them and smothered others," Alok Kumar said. Sharma claimed he had shot and killed a gold smuggler, Ibrahim of Dubai, after a business dispute. SV Raghavan had rented out his house at HBR Layout in Bangalore to Sharma, who failed to pay the rent for nine months. Sharma asked Raghavan to come to his residence on January 10, 2008, to collect the rent. When Raghavan reached the house, Sharma, his wife and son smothered him to death with a pillow. They stabbed him in the stomach, and took his body to Sooligere in Tamil Nadu and set it on fire. "Sharma had created fake papers to show that Raghavan had sold the HBR Layout property to him. After Raghavan's son filed a missing complaint, Sharma told us he had come with a woman and collected the rental arrears and also Rs 50 lakh as sale advance," ACP Gopal Reddy said. "He was a tough nut to crack. But he began singing once we told him Raghavan's body had been found," the ACP recalled. -TOI