'Serial killer' arrested, admits to killing 6 people since 2003

New Delhi, May 21 (UNI) Bringing curtains on the 7-month-old suspense that had the police on its toes, the alleged serial killer who killed four people in last couple of months and dumped their bodies outside the high security Tihar Jail in the National Capital, was arrested from Haiderpur area in North-West Delhi.

Joint Commissioner (Southern Range) Rajesh Kumar told mediapersons that the accused Chanderkant Jha (40), a known bad character, was arrested yesterday afternoon from Haiderpur under Shalimar Bagh police station and confessed to have committed the killings.

''In all he accepted to have committed six murders since 2003, which was corroborated by the weapons recovered and other evidence like blood stained clothes, blood marks at the spot etc collected so far.'' An investigation team had been on the lookout for the killer ever since the first dumping of the body outside Tihar Jail in October last year. After working on several leads which pointed to the accused he was picked up for questioning yesterday when he accepted his guilt, said Mr Kumar.

''After killing he would use his motorised rickshaw to 'ferry' the bodies to the dumping spots and the limbs into the Yamuna river.

This he would do between 0400-0600 hrs when it would be dark.'' Jha served a four-year jail term for killing one Mangal alias Aurangzeb in 1998 in Adarsh Nagar area. However, later he was acquitted in the case, said the Jt CP.

''All his victims, whom he kept as his children and then butchered to death, have been identified as Shekhar of Alipur (June 2003), Umesh of Hari Nagar (November 2003), Guddu of Mongolpuri (November 2005), Amit Mandal of Hari Nagar (October 2006), Upendra of Hari Nagar (April 2007) and Dilip of Hari Nagar (May 2007).'' Denying that it was 'police excess' which drove him into writing offensive letters against the police, including an open challenge to arrest him, the Jt CP said his mental state could be gauged from the fact that Jha would befriend poor labourers, keep them at his place and look after them well and even with a slight offence like drinking and boozing would kill them.

''He was perhaps against the police as he had been convicted and jailed once and alleged that he wasn't treated well by them.'' Father of five daughters, all below ten years, Jha who hailed from Madhepura in Bihar would buy vegetables from 'mandi' in bulk and supply to retailers. While his family lived in Alipur (N-W Delhi) he had two other places where he would 'live'. Also, ever since he came to Delhi in 1986, he had changed more than 50 places of residence, Mr Kumar added.

UNI