Satish (Bahadurgarh baby killer)

Early life

Satish had come to Bahadurgarh from Ghaziabad along with his parents. In Bahadurgarh, he lived at the home of his father Brij Pal, in the Netaji Nagar locality. At the time of his arrest in 1998, he was 25 years old.

Victims

The police confirmed Satish to have been involved in kidnapping and rape or attempted rape of twelve young girls, ten of whom he killed:

After his arrest, Satish had confessed to have raped or attempted to rape 14 girls. He also confessed to have killed 10 of these girls. He did not know the names of any of his victims. A summary of his confessional statement is given below:

1. Kidnapped a girl from between Ghevra turning and Nizampur village. Left her in the field of wheat nearby road of Bamnouli turning.
2. Kidnapped a girl aged about 8–9 years from a marriage function at Gali No. 4, Netaji Nagar, at about 9:10 pm on a winter night. Took her to a mustard field, and attempted to rape her. Murdered her by strangling her throat.
3. Kidnapped a girl aged about 8–9 years from Parnala village. Took her to Bidoras, and tried to rape her. Murdered her by strangling her throat.
4. Kidnapped a sleeping girl from somewhere near the Bahadurgarh bus stand. Took her to Parnala village, tried to rape her and murdered her.
5. Kidnapped a girl from a Ramlila function at Nahra Nahri Road. Took her to Kothra in Parnala village. Tried to rape her.
6. Kidnapped a girl from Nehru Park. Tried to rape her in the field of Dencha, between Parnala and Nizampur. Not sure if she died or lived.
7. Kidnapped a girl from somewhere near a temple located beside a road leading to Nehru Park. Took her to Kothra in Parnala village, tried to rape her and murder her. Came to know later that she lived.
8. Kidnapped a girl from school near sabzi mandi during the day, in summer season. Took her towards Parnala, tried to rape her in the vacant plot. Murdered her by strangling her throat.
9. Kidnapped a girl aged about 7 years, from Shankar Garden. Took her to a park, tried to rape her, and murdered her by strangling her throat.
10. Kidnapped a 7–8-year-old girl from somewhere near a pencil Factory. Tried to rape her beside the nala near a bridge. Murdered her by strangling her throat.
11. Kidnapped a girl from Bamnouli turning. Took her near Chour Paiu. Tried to rape her near a pipal tree. Murdered her and threw the dead body there.
12. Kidnapped a girl from her house in Shankar Garden. Took her near a nala, tried to rape her and murdered her.
13. Kidnapped a girl from the M.I.E. Area at night. Took her to a vacant plot, tried to rape her and murdered her by strangling her throat. Then felt sorry, went near her house, and tried to wake up a lady.
14. Kidnapped a girl from somewhere near a chappal factory around midday. Took her to his house, and kept her there overnight. Tried to rape her twice. His young brother and sister were present in the house at that time; Satish told them that the girl was the daughter of a contractor. Next morning, he took the girl near a vacant factory, strangled her and ran away. (This was Somani, the girl who survived and led the police to him).

First false arrest: Raj Kumar

Satish's first victim was Pooja, who was killed in February 1995. As her father was employed in the Union Home Ministry, the police were under pressure to apprehend the culprit quickly. The police arrested Raj Kumar, alias Raja, and claimed that he had confessed to the crime. Raja was later acquitted after being imprisoned for 18 months.

in July 1995, while Raja was still under police custody, Satish raped and killed a seven-year-old girl. After Satish's third crime in September 1995, the police started looking for a serial killer. When the fourth girl was murdered in October 1995, the angry locals organized dharnas. The police authorities transferred the in-charge of the local police station, and intensified patrolling in the area. The police also asked parents to keep an eye on their children, especially young girls, and report any suspicious elements, but there was no progress in the investigation.

Second false arrest: Ram Babu

In January 1996, Satish kidnapped and raped two girls over a five-day period. The locals organized bandhs, intensifying their protests, so the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DGP) and the District Superintendent of Police (SP) camped in Bahadurgarh to supervise the investigation themselves. The police also explored the possibility of the killer being a resident of the neighbouring Delhi, and involved Delhi Police in the investigations.

The Delhi Police arrested the possibly mentally retarded Ram Babu, claiming the ₹ 50,000 reward that Haryana police had announced for the arrest of the "Bahadurgarh baby killer". A resident of Bihar, Ram Babu was arrested from a dhaba on the Delhi-Rohtak road, near Nangloi.

Meanwhile, the murders continued, making it obvious that Ram Babu was not the killer. On 16 August 1998, three months before Satish was caught, and after having spent thirty months in prison, 32 year old Ram Babu was killed while still incarcerated. Om Prakash, another prisoner under trial lodged in the prison's mental ward, hit him on the head with a brick, resulting in his death.

The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), who interviewed Ram Babu, later stated:

Third false arrest: Shankar Kumar

On 22 June 1997, Satish killed seven year old Manju. On 10 July 1997, the police arrested Shankar Kumar, a resident of Begusarai in Bihar. The police claimed that he had attempted to abduct Aarti, a young girl from Subhash Nagar locality of Bahadurgarh. According to SSP A.S. Chawla, Shankar had confessed to having kidnapped and murdered Manju.

The police claim of having arrested the baby killer was again exposed as premature when Satish raped and killed nine year old Kinty. Her naked body was found on 8 October 1997. The discovery led to a violent public protest in the city on 9 October. A riot-like situation developed in the city, and the police resorted to firing on the infuriated mob, killing two youths. Contingent units of the Central Reserve Police Force were called in to assist the local police, and the case was handed over to the Crime Branch. Seeing the massive mobilization of police forces in the city, Satish remained inactive for the next eleven months.

Arrest

After nearly a year of inactivity, in September 1998, Satish committed another crime, kidnapping a nine-year-old girl from her family's compound at night. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Suman Manjari organized an Anti-Crime Committee of influential citizens to spread awareness and mobilize support against the killer. She also met with the local chamber of commerce, who announced a reward of ₹ 10,000 for helping the police to catch the killer.

On 18 November 1998, Satish kidnapped six year old Somani, while she was returning from her father's tea stall. DSP Suman Manjari supervised the search and the investigation, but could not make any headway. Satish raped her twice at his house; when she fell unconscious, he threw her in a field near his house presuming her to be dead.

Two days later, Umid Singh saw Somani weeping in the dry flood channel near a bridge. He asked the girl her name and address, but she did not tell him anything except her name. Singh took her to the Modern Industrial Area police station. The local police, realizing she must have been a victim of the baby killer, informed the DSP. Somani revealed to the DSP that she had been kidnapped by a bicyclist, and described the kidnapper as having a thin beard and a dark complexion. She then led the police to a house across the Railway Line, where she had been kept overnight . Satish's brother told the police that he was working at a tin factory, where the police arrested him.

After the arrest, the Haryana Police asked the Delhi Police to return the reward they had claimed for arresting Ram Babu. The Delhi Police returned the money, which was then given to Somani.

Conviction

According to the police, Satish appeared to be a "mentally deranged sex pervert". During 10–23 December, he was kept under the observation of Dr. Rajiv Gupta at PGIMS Rohtak. Dr. Gupta concluded that Satish did not suffer from any psychotic disorder, but had a "neurotic type of personality". Satish confessed to 14 crimes. On 22 December 1998, the Magistrate was satisfied that his confession was voluntary. Satish retracted his confession later, but the court relied on other evidence to convict him. The details he provided of the kidnappings, rapes and murders were corroborated by other evidence. For example, in the Aarti murder case (Victim #11), he had been questioned before lie detection expert Dr. Bibha Rani on 1 December 1998, and his description of the crime matched the existing evidence in the case.

Satish was sentenced to life imprisonment. The court did not find his crime to be "rarest of the rare", which qualifies for the death sentence. In 2008, the Punjab and Haryana High Court rejected the Haryana Government's appeal to award him a death sentence. The court declared: