[match ignites]
[ominous music]
♪ Time now to attack! ♪
♪ Let's give this a crack! ♪
♪ Time to take the streets back! ♪
♪ Time now to attack! ♪
♪ Take a lesson, learn that knack! ♪
♪ You were hacked, now hack back! ♪
♪ Claim your life, take it back! ♪
♪ Time now to attack! ♪
♪ Let's give this a crack! ♪
♪ Face the wounds deep in your soul! ♪
♪ In the new Mahabharata ♪
♪ On your feet, let's roll! ♪
♪ Let's join hands Let's fire up brands! ♪
♪ Name me! ♪
♪ Shame me! ♪
♪ Defame me! ♪
♪ But I'll play this game, me! ♪
♪ They can lock your bodies up! ♪
♪ What can they do to your tongues? ♪
♪ Reach out, eclipse the sun! ♪
♪ Bring night down on everyone! ♪
♪ Time now to attack! ♪
♪ Let's give this a crack! ♪
♪ Our babies waste away The police look away ♪
♪ We just can't get away! The media has its day! ♪
♪ Who built these bars? ♪
♪ Vultures who chewed our hearts ♪
♪ Don't wait for a messiah ♪
♪ Let your words carry fire ♪
♪ Get close to the vulture ♪
♪ Borrow tools from his culture ♪
♪ Learn from the humble ant ♪
♪ Who can fell the elephant ♪
♪ My legs walk on their own ♪
♪ The road urges me on, on! ♪
♪ They threw away the key ♪
♪ Now how come I'm free? ♪
♪ Take chili powder, grab it, dare ♪
♪ Ignore their shaming stare ♪
♪ Keep your eye on the goal ♪
♪ Step away from the common fold ♪
♪ Ask the question, wild and bold ♪
♪ That will uproot the macho world ♪
♪ Eye on the goal, focus your soul ♪
♪ Come now fight fire with fire ♪
♪ Get in our way? You risk our ire ♪
♪ I've been sliced and diced and fried ♪
♪ I'm the walking dead, I'm burnt inside ♪
♪ I've kept the lava tamed inside ♪
♪ It's bursting now, step aside ♪
♪ All my head, entire all ♪
♪ My head was consumed by sorrow's fire ♪
♪ The drum-drum-drumming in my head Scream all you want, now you're dead ♪
♪ Rise up now and cast him down Sharpen your nails and blast him down ♪
♪ Listen, listen, as we go! ♪
♪ Hear our cry, hear our roar! Beat those plowshares into swords! ♪
♪ We're done with words, words, words! ♪
♪ Tab him, grab him ♪
♪ Nab him, stab him ♪
♪ Now your life is on the line Grab it, claim it, mine, mine ♪
♪ Watch out, we're nemesis! ♪
♪ Time now to attack! ♪
♪ Time to take our lives back! ♪
[woman chuckles]
[woman in Hindi] Not one tear will be lost.
We'll make them count the cost.
With our rage, break this cage.
In such an hour, we ourselves will shame us.
Time now to attack.
That which happened. That which was seen.
That which was heard. That which was said.
All of it wrong. All correct.
[tense music]
[reporter 1] There was chaos in the District Sessions Court of Nagpur
when about 50 people attacked Akku Yadav, a notorious criminal
who was brought to the court for a hearing.
The highly agitated mob broke this door and then barged in from the rear side
of the court in room number seven, and finally beat Yadav to death.
[reporter 2] This broken door,
a mute witness to the killing inside Nagpur's main court.
Bharat alias Akku Yadav, a local criminal, was stabbed and stoned to death today,
minutes before he was to be produced in front of a public magistrate.
-[siren wailing] -[crowd clamoring]
A mob of about 40 to 50 people with, uh, deadly weapons
attacked him violently and killed him on the spot.
[reporter 3] The turn of events is as unprecedented as the crime itself.
All this happened so soon
that the police and court officials are completely shocked.
[reporter 4] And this has put a big question mark
on the safety and security system here.
[reporter 5] Surprisingly, the police haven't made any arrests yet
as the crowd vanished almost immediately.
[bike bell rings]
[police chief] Today, the 13th, August…
-English, Hindi? English. -[reporters] English.
The search for the killers of Akku Yadav is on.
They all fled in an auto-rickshaw.
But, uh, someone gave that auto-rickshaw's number to the police.
And the auto-rickshaw driver has been taken into custody
and currently questioning and inquiry is on.
The driver told them that four to five people
sat in his auto-rickshaw from the court
and got off at Kasturba Nagar,
and that they were speaking amongst themselves
about committing a murder in the court.
[indistinct chatter]
-[siren wailing] -[dramatic music]
And then the police came scurrying and reached Kasturba Nagar.
At least four to six police vans reached there at Kasturba Nagar.
And the area went silent.
-[metal jingling] -[approaching footsteps]
[Savita] So when I was at my place of work,
the police came to arrest me.
They caught my hand to take me away.
So I told them, "I'll come willingly."
So they retorted, "Are you you some big celebrity or what?"
"You… you are a murderer," they said.
So I once again requested them to leave my hand,
and that I am ready to come with you.
[crowd clamoring]
They came running, "Hey, Bhagan! What happened?"
"Get lost! Get lost, cowards!" Nobody's telling me what happened.
"Hey, listen. Listen to us.
You know, we just killed Akku Yadav.
Swear on you. We are not lying."
"What nonsense are you saying?"
"We have really killed him, Bhagan."
Then I asked, "Four women are arrested. Now what do we do about them?"
"Come on, let's go.
Then from Bhim Chowk, we took an auto-rickshaw
and went straight to Sadar Police Station.
It was fully packed with us women.
-The police station was very crowded. -Yes, she's right.
-It was packed to the seams. -Yes, it was completely packed that day.
It was packed with us women.
[women clamoring]
[muffled clamoring]
All the women protested, "We all have murdered him. Arrest us also.
Why arrest only five women?"
-We all were ready to get arrested. -"Punish us," says them.
-All of us are ready to surrender. -We asked them to arrest us.
-Arrest us all at one go. -We were not afraid of anyone.
Police should have done that, right?
Why didn't they do that when we were ready to get arrested?
What was keeping them from doing that?
[clamoring continues]
[siren blaring in distance]
[Vilas] Then, the bargaining started there.
After that, they made us an offer.
Saying that, "We need five women at least."
We asked, "Who?" And they said, "Give us any men or five old women."
No, no, just to save themselves,
the police had to arrest two to three people
just to show that they were doing something.
We asked them, "Have you opened a shop where you ask for four boys and four girls
to get arrested, and we'll give them to you.
Tell me. This isn't a bazaar or something!"
[tense music]
[Chandra] A lot of mothers felt it would be better
if they got arrested instead of their daughters
being put behind bars.
-This exchange happened. -[clangs]
[camera shutters clicking]
[siren blaring]
[indistinct muttering]
[TV host] His crime worsened with every passing day.
As they say, "There's an extent and a limit till which one can suffer.
And then comes a moment
when the oppressed reach a point where there's no fear of death anymore.
The residents of Kasturba Nagar turned this court into a kangaroo court
and decided his fate in minutes.
-[gunshot] -Yes, Akku Yadav will never come back.
The day he died, we had a really good feast.
-We all were very happy. -And then… And then…
-My mother-in-law informed me. -Yes!
As soon as we got the news, we started preparing delicacies.
-Yes. We got some fresh mutton… -My mother-in-law was telling me…
-…and then we cooked a delicious meal… -And then my mother-in-law told me
-about his death. -…for all of us.
My husband wasn't carrying any money.
He said, "Great news!
-We all are free now." -I agree now.
"Completely free!"
"We needn't stress anymore. We are completely tension free,"
my husband kept saying.
On that day, I bought two kilos of mutton and meadow.
Delicious meal!
I then gave it to my mother.
I ate well, and even gave some to my neighbor,
who is actually also our landlord.
Everyone had some or the other kind of a feast to rejoice his death.
[solemn music]
[Gendlal] He was our friend, Akku Yadav.
[Gendlal chanting in Hindi]
"Truth is our faith."
We chant it for everyone.
We buried him…
as unmarried.
Men are usually buried.
[Vilas] Akku's name was Bharat.
Bharat Kalicharan Yadav.
In Akku's house, there was a milkman who milk the cows.
His name was Babban.
This Babban used to tease him, "Aaku-Aaku-Aaku" all the time.
And that is how Aaku changed to Akku.
When he was young,
he used to take the cattle regularly to the river to feed them.
This was his routine.
He would free his cattle at nine in the morning,
and leave them to the river for them to graze.
We were friends and he belonged to a slightly more well-off family
because he had his own cattle business and all.
By "well-off," I mean he had food to eat while we didn't have much to eat.
That's the only difference.
Even we all had little kids. And he used to play many games.
Tripcat, marbles with our children.
[marbles clack]
[Manish] His finger was this thick.
See how our fingers are thin? His fingers were thick.
Milking cows all the time made his hands extremely strong.
His arms were toned. They were very big.
His thighs were big and broad.
-He was fair and tall. -Oh, he was tall and fair.
-He was fair-- -He was quite a giant also.
-He was very tall. -He had a long sharp nose.
He had a sharp, long nose, you know.
-He had deep sunken eyes. -And his voice…
-His voice was powerful and intimidating. -Very intimidating.
-Very strong. -He came across as very daring.
-He used to stand like his. -"Hey! What are you doing? Come here."
Yes, that's how he spoke to everyone.
You know, as soon as he heard a Bollywood song,
-he would start dancing. -He would start dancing. Yes.
[cards tack]
[blows air]
[cigarette butt sizzles]
[Vilas] During our teenage years,
our days were all about stealing, gambling, playing games.
You know, this was our daily routine.
[water splashes]
Akku was an excellent swimmer.
In fact, he taught me how to swim.
We used to jump in the water and swim too,
but didn't know how to come out.
-It was such a struggle. -[water splashing]
We had to always find someone to grab onto.
[water splashing]
-[child panting] -[water dripping]
So Akku used to help us.
When I remember the good old days,
sometimes it feels like this should not have happened at all.
I feel terrible about it.
STABBED 73 TIMES
KASTURBA NAGAR SEALED OFF
WITNESS BOX BECOMES THE WITNESS
ONE PREGNANT AMONG THE ARRESTED WOMEN
Then when people read about the incident in detail
in the newspaper, they began to contact people,
in and around the area of Kasturba Nagar.
And, you know, there were some social workers,
some good souls from the nearby village
who started asking and inquiring about what exactly happened.
You know, after this, the news started spreading like wildfire.
So then, Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, people from all these metros
landed up in Nagpur, and then the cameras began to roll.
Women and children have taken justice in their hands
at the Nagpur District Court.
[reporter 1] Why did they do this and not take the route
of appeal, argument, and lawyers?
[reporter 2] The killers apparently are women from the surrounding areas.
[reporter 3] Women here are openly confessing to the crimes, saying,
"Akku had abducted and raped women in this locality."
[local resident] He had terrorized the area for ten years.
He would torture everyone in our locality.
He would not only hit men, but also abuse and rape women.
The media was asking us. Even Asian channels were asking us.
Hmm, Aaj Tak Channel was asking us,
"How do you feel now after all this has happened?"
We told them, "We feel great now."
[reporter 1] As we walk into Nagpur's Kasturba Nagar,
signs of the locality's newfound fame,
a foreign media crew is here to record the testimonies of its women.
[reporter 2] The women of the slum lived in fear of Yadav
are Dalits, the poorest of the poor, formerly known as Untouchables.
Many earn less than 50 cents a day working as servants.
Speaking of this incident,
the entire media fueled the fire to a great extent.
And used it to their benefit to increase PRP and readership.
[reporter 3] The women demanded, "Give us Akku Yadav. We want to kill him!"
And after saying these words, the women attacked him.
The name of the deceased was Bharat Kalicharan aka Akku Yadav.
Why did the women of Nagpur feel the need to kill?
The legal system was not taking any action,
which is why we all had to take the law in our hands.
All the women have come together to kill that monster because he…
If you think the women were right, pick up your mobile phone and SMS YES.
[TV host] If you think they were wrong, SMS NO.
Who creates Akku Yadav?
Well, you have to ask this question. That's the fundamental thing.
He lived and he was part of the… part of that particular locality.
His social, uh, economic…
uh, and several other characteristics were similar.
[children singing Indian National Anthem]
[teacher] I am very sorry to hear about Bharat Kalicharan Yadav.
He was a very disciplined child.
He was regular in school and was studious.
But after completing his 7th grade, he dropped out of school.
After that, we don't know
what really became of him or what condition he lived in.
They were a big family consisting of six sisters and six brothers.
All the brothers were big-time goons.
Hardcore criminals.
His elder brother worked in the railways.
His name was Lallu.
He was also a criminal.
You may ask, "How a person in government service can be a criminal?"
But he was!
Things were fine until his father was alive.
After his father died,
everything in his life got completely ruined.
They lost everything they had.
Once this happened,
it was a struggle to even get food, you know.
They did not have anything to eat.
They sold off their cattle. Their sister was to be married.
There was no earning member in the family.
There was nobody at all.
Akku was the youngest and he was unmarried.
Even food was a struggle for them and there was no shelter either.
Then what was the option?
So… so Akku took after his elder brother.
Yes. And started doing what he used to do.
[ominous music]
[cards tacking]
[indistinct chatter]
[Meena] Akku and his friend, Baba, both broke into our house.
They came inside and quietly sat down next to my husband.
They signaled to us to not say a word. Just to keep quiet.
And then, jokingly, I asked him,
"What's happening? Have your in-laws come here to meet you or what?"
I actually meant the police. I thought they were gambling once again.
He asked me to check if they had left.
"Are they still here?"
I went and I checked. So they had already left from there.
They were not there anymore.
Now, now, while leaving,
he picked up a watch that I had kept on the TV.
I had left it there.
Now, shouldn't I ask him if my things go missing?
I would ask him, right?
So I asked him, "Bhaiyaa, the other day when you both came home,
I had kept a watch on the TV,
and I can't find it anywhere since that day."
They replied, "What are you saying, woman?
Are you accusing me of stealing the watch from your home? Tell me!"
[tense music]
[Meena] My husband was outside and Akku slapped him really hard.
[loud slap]
I was fuming with anger. I was just so angry at Akku.
I thought, "What could I do? Nothing at all."
It was humiliating to see my husband getting beaten up like that.
It hurt me so much.
And my husband is a really decent man.
He's not said a word to anybody.
And to see him like this, like this was, it was very painful.
[Meena] How could he hit him like that?
I did not have the courage to ask that bastard, "Why did you hit him?"
He told me, "How dare you ask me!
How dare you accuse me of stealing?"
He then picked up a glass jar, and just slammed it.
It pierced his hand badly.
And he started bleeding. It was a huge gash.
He was bleeding really profusely.
I just didn't know what to do.
I just took a piece of cloth
and started dressing his wound for the blood to stop oozing.
[Meena] Horrible.
He was just going on wiping his bloody hand on the wall.
I was pleading with him, "Do not stain the walls of my shop."
So I dressed his wound with a cloth for the blood to stop oozing any further.
[Meena] I was horrified that day to see him in that state.
I will never forget that day.
My father was on his way to get kerosene.
Akku stopped him and snatched the money
-from him. -He snatched the money.
We had to go hungry.
We can cook only if we have kerosene.
If not, then we can't cook.
He take away our fuel money, and we had to go without food for days.
He wouldn't even spare the coins.
He would gather all the loose change of 10 paise, 20 paise, 25 paise, 50 paise.
Put them in a plastic bag and give them to me.
He said, "Manish, I want to drink.
What is this weight about?"
He gave me loose coins and… [chuckles]
…wanted me to count those coins.
He said, "Get some alcohol for me." I said, "I won't go with these coins."
You know what he used to say?
That, "You're earning money, right? So give me 10,000 rupees now."
He would demand for money.
You're working in a bungalow, right?
Then, come on, go and ask the rich owner for some money.
All the products from my shop were stacked outside.
One afternoon, he loaded all my stock in an auto and a truck,
and sold off everything.
That man took away my entire life's earnings
and made me completely poor and helpless.
I was totally speechless
and just sat under a tree for three to four hours.
I was completely numb.
I… I could not fathom what… what had just happened with me.
And now I had become a pauper.
[suspenseful music]
[Vilas] Back then, the WCL colony was almost ready.
It was under construction. We went there with the intention to steal.
We saw a couple there and went up to them.
[tense music]
Everybody had different thoughts in their mind.
I had only one thing in mind, that is to snatch the money, okay?
At that moment, Akku changed his mind.
He had an eye on the woman.
[indistinct quarrel]
And so he tried to find a corner with her.
With the idea of creating some privacy, that man managed to escape.
And where did he go? Straight to Koradi Police Station.
After that, a criminal case was filed under Section 354 for molestation.
Up to that point, we were together, no doubt.
But after that, as fate could have it,
he went on a different path, and I went on a completely different one.
[vehicle approaching]
[engine rumbles]
CENTRAL JAIL, NAGPUR
[handcuffs clinking]
[squeaks]
[Ritesh] Being in jail can either reform you…
or it can ruin you completely.
One meets a whole lot of people and lots of criminals there.
Under their influence,
Akku decided that he will become a criminal.
And he indeed became one.
He has been in prison for theft…
and getting into fights and thrashing people as well.
And there, the people whom he met
were really hardcore criminals from outside,
and he befriended them.
Then they started visiting our locality.
If any of my friends went to see him, he would treat them with a lot of respect.
He would serve them like a host, like when guests come over.
We ask them, "Would you like to have some tea
or maybe a cold drink?"
In our community, when someone visits us, we ask them,
"Brother, what will you have? Pot? Liquor? Mutton?"
"Hey, make some mutton."
He had to be served whether you wanted to or not.
[ominous music]
-[noisy chatter] -[plates clinking]
[Vilas] Then they would have a feast, party there,
and even crash at the host's place.
And you know what Akku used to do?
He used to inform the police about who was doing what
and who was going where.
He used to relay all this. He was like a police informant, okay?
He always made sure to get everyone drunk
but stay alert himself.
He had a very sharp mind.
He observed closely,
and knew what's going on in the other person's mind.
He could read people very quickly and accurately.
He just knew what was going on in the other person's mind.
-[cigarette sizzles] -[indistinct chatter]
The moment we saw him, we would start shivering like this.
-It happened automatically. -You know how
-we used to signal each other? -Just on its own.
-"Hey, hide! He's coming!" -Yes.
She would tell me. I would tell her. And then she would tell her.
We would never dare to utter his name.
We used a code name. "Madam has come. I saw Madam on the road."
He would say, "You cunt! How dare you call me Madam?"
"You fucker! Come here. Come here." He would talk like that.
"Your mother is this. Your sister is that."
Such foul language.
According to him, every woman was a bastard and a motherfucker.
Yes, bastard and motherfucker.
Every sentence was filled with a whole lot of vulgar and abuse of language.
Only my husband is allowed to use words like "bastard" and "motherfucker."
My husband has that right.
But we took all this nonsense from Akku as well
because we had to save our lives, right?
You know, we wouldn't step outside because we feared him so much.
We would pee in pots at home itself.
He wanted the whole area to be so silent.
He wanted complete pin-drop silence.
No sound at all.
We would not cook. We would not go outside.
[door banging]
He would bang the door, hard break open the door.
Barge into this house, enter that house.
He kept doing this.
My daughter-in-law came in running…
[panting] …panting like this.
I asked her, "What happened?"
She said he was ransacking someone's house.
Her heart was pounding like crazy.
She was pregnant and lost her unborn child because of that fear.
[mourning music]
[Vilas] A poor old man from our area had died.
Now, the lane from where the funeral had to pass was narrow.
It was a tiny lane, but Akku and his gang were gambling there.
The body was to be taken from that narrow road.
[rowdy chatter]
The funeral procession was ready to leave,
but they were waiting there for more than an hour
as to when these guys finished their gambling
and the procession could pass.
During that period in our area,
there were no celebrations and no weddings.
-Nobody came to our village. -No vendors came, no grocers came,
-no bank personnel… -Everything was completely shut.
-…no auto-rickshaw driver. -That's true.
No one would come here.
Everything was completely shut, like a lockdown.
It was as if a curfew had been imposed.
-All doors were shut. Literally. -Water vendors were also not open.
[squeaks, clonks]
[digital blasts]
[eerie music]
He was wearing a jacket and unzipped it completely.
And that jacket had a number of pockets here and there.
It was loaded with guns, knives, and many other such deadly weapons.
He taunted me, "Aayi, are you watching?"
I told him, "Baita, I have been dead since a long time."
I came from a village, and then when I saw this city atmosphere,
I saw it at home, outside, and all this slowly and steadily
turned me into an unemotional stone.
Now I have become as hard as a rock.
Uh, my friend and I were passing Indora Police Station,
and we were going to Jaripatka.
There, I spotted a moped near the police station, a lunar moped.
Akku very stylishly had one foot resting on the moped
and was looking towards Jaswant Talkies.
While passing from, from that area, I told my friend, "Come, bro.
Uh, let me introduce you to one of my friends."
And I said, "Munnabhai, this is Akku Yadav, a notorious gangster."
He said, "I am." And looked for something in his pocket.
He pulled out a knife and opened it. Kar-kar-kar-kar.
And right behind us was Indora Police Station.
Right there, he had the guts, kar-kar-kar-kar, to open the knife
and place it on the seat of the moped.
He said, "Yes, bro. I am Akku Yadav, and I'm a notorious gangster."
My friend exclaimed, "You have a knife?"
He replied, "Should I keep a pen instead of a knife?"
He said, "I'm a gangster.
Obviously, I'll carry a knife."
[reporter 1] Different types of knives,
glass pieces, and stones were hurled at him.
He was attacked brutally until he was dead.
[reporter 2] As many as 50 women attacked him using knives and stones.
[reporter 3] Five women recognized by eyewitnesses are behind bars.
But more and more women are coming forward claiming they, too, were part of the mob.
WOMEN'S COMMISSION DEMANDS RELEASE ON GROUNDS OF SELF-DEFENSE
AKKU YADAV LYNCHING CASE: SPARKS INDEFINITE PROTESTS
[women clamoring]
[Bhaganbai] This is a different kind of revolution.
We are either in it completely or not in it at all.
We won't back off until the five women are released.
The police were clueless and kept asking the same question.
"Do you women have the permission to protest like this on the streets?"
In return, I asked, "Will you answer my question?"
So they asked me, "What's your question?"
I countered, "Tell me.
Had Akku Yadav taken any permission before raping so many women?"
You know, we had a black cloth over our mouth,
and it was a silent protest against the police and the administration.
We told them that, "You totally failed to protect us,
and now that we have done something, we are just trying to help.
And instead of cooperating, you are just harassing us."
And I also told them categorically that on 15th August,
we will not hoist the national flag.
[Vilas in Hindi] Our people want to live simple, secure lives.
Come, let us work together
to revive the values of our freedom struggle.
[Chandra] 15th August is celebrated as the day of independence in our country.
We wanted freedom.
A revolution started and a revolt brewed against this tyrant.
We had decided that on the 13th of August,
we would finish him in court.
It was a historic moment
because we women took a very bold step that day.
Because the women of Kasturba Nagar had absolutely no trust in the police,
in the Maharashtra government, we had no hope from them at all.
-We had no one on our side. -No one. No one supported us.
Not even the police.
You know, we were on our own.
The only person who came to help us was Asha Bhagat.
She supported us.
-We really wanted some support. -Took care of us, fed us
whenever required, listen to us, and actually helped us.
She didn't just listen. She helped us.
[women chattering]
[Resha] She was like a deer.
She was, uh, rather short but, uh, really swift like a deer.
If anything happens, she would rush to rescue and help that person.
And if Akku was beating anyone, she would order him, "Stop it!"
Akku was very afraid of her.
Very afraid of her because she would often threaten him.
She would tell him,
"You motherfucker, stop harassing poor people.
Or else, I will teach you a good lesson."
She always fought for the poor.
She wasn't an ordinary woman. She was our guardian angel.
[men noisily cheering]
[Vilas] Asha Bhagat used to sell alcohol.
The people who used to come to her place were regular customers
and they were criminals, hardcore criminals, you know.
So now with the presence of Asha,
Akku started feeling a major sense of competition.
So because of this, the rivalry between Akku and Asha
kept slowly, slowly, slowly intensifying.
Asha Bai Bhagat formed a team with the local Marathian folks
and made a plan to murder him.
Murder whom? Akku. He had to be finished!
[dramatic music]
[cigarette sizzles]
[object clacks]
[inaudible chatter]
By that time, Akku had become powerful.
And no one dared to challenge him. No one could kill him easily as well.
So they gained his trust, got him drunk,
and then attacked him.
[tense music]
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
[men cackling]
[fire crackles]
[tense music]
[clicks]
Actually, Akku was extremely scared of dying.
He was badly injured.
They hit him really hard on the head, you know.
[Manish] He tried to save himself from them.
While running, he even fell, but somehow managed to escape.
[Vilas] He escaped in such a way that he almost disappeared.
They kept searching all night.
[indistinct shouting]
Then, Akku had a realization
that the Marathian folks are a big threat to him.
-[indistinct chatter] -[lighter ignites]
[Vilas] So he turned towards people who spoke Hindi.
And one of them was Avinash Tiwari.
And Avinash Tiwari was just becoming a rising star, so Akku befriended him.
[men jeering]
[Resha] When Akku was attacked, as his friend,
Avinash donated his blood to Akku and saved his life.
Avinash was a nice man.
You know, he really liked talking to everyone.
So Akku didn't like this.
"You talk to this one, you talk to that one,
why do you talk to everyone?
If you're speaking to me, it's only with me, and no one else."
So Avinash used to visit Asha Bhagat's house.
[men laughing]
[Resha] "Avinash, just stop going to her house."
He replied, "No. Just the way you are my good friend, she is my friend as well.
Everyone is nice to me, and I want to be friends with everyone."
So then they both argued over this.
It began with some heated words.
-[clanking] -[steam hisses]
[inaudible]
[engine starts]
After that scuffle, Akku headed straight home from that location
and then he came back with a knife.
[engine clicks off]
At that point of time, I was standing on the road
opposite Asha Bhagat's house.
I stayed on the opposite road and was standing there.
Akku opened the knife with his teeth and jabbed Avinash with it.
With just one stab, he died on the spot.
[eerie music]
[body thuds]
[Resha] Asha was screaming from the other side.
"You bastard! You have killed such a gem of a person!
Why? He donated blood to you.
He was your friend. And you killed him, you evil man!"
You're such a fucking shameless man!
You'll rot in hell!
He was screaming back, "Don't you dare shout!
Shut up and go inside. You're next in line, okay?"
[eerie music]
[insect buzzing]
[somber music]
[engine rumbles]
[Gendlal] It began as a friendly fight.
Akku had no intention of killing his friend.
He was sorry about it.
He repented killing his friend
because he had killed someone belonging to the upper caste.
That was a big no-no.
The morning began with a cup of tea.
Following that, a glass of milk was given.
Soon after milk, breakfast was served.
And after breakfast, it would be lunchtime.
People were always around to have fun.
There was always something or the other to do.
Jail was like a… a hostel for us.
We would give him snacks.
If he felt like having a drink, we would sneak in some alcohol
and then quietly mix it into his chick pea flower curry.
He would have that curry and then get intoxicated.
So it was fun for him. It felt like a very good change for him.
"If even a mother's womb cannot confine us, then how can a prison?
We got out of the womb, right? So we'll get out of prison.
If not right away, then soon enough. But for sure!"
He murdered Avinash Tiwari in broad daylight,
but within only ten months, he was released, you know.
Scot-free from jail.
We were shocked and wondering, "How could he come back home so soon
after committing such a gruesome murder?"
Then for a few years, he warned people not to talk to Asha.
Nobody from the locality should speak to her.
Nobody should go to her house. He wanted all the updates on her life.
Day by day, the war and enmity between them went from bad to worse.
[Vilas] It was a hot summer night.
The coolers were on.
Ashok's house was just next to Baban's paan shop.
At night, from around 11 till 2 in the morning
Akku went over to Ashok's house.
He came to my shop and bought some cigarette and tobacco plugs.
He bought quite a few things from me.
I was really surprised that he paid for this.
He never paid for anything otherwise. But on that day, he paid me 100 rupees.
Yes, 100 rupees. He gave me a 100-rupee note.
I had no idea that Asha was in danger,
or else, I would have definitely alerted her of the oncoming attack.
[Meena] Asha Bhagat's door was shut.
Her daughter was applying henna.
She offered to apply on Asha's hands too.
And then…
[ominous music]
He introduced himself as her son Rajesh's friend,
and asked for some water.
She thought he's her son's friend.
But they were hiding next to the wall and were loaded with deadly weapons.
[suspenseful music]
And then they…
[sobbing]
[suspenseful music]
[knocks on door]
-[Asha screams] -[pitcher clanks]
[water splashes]
[somber music]
Her daughter begged them to let go of her mother.
But they just didn't listen.
[sobbing]
After the murder, I asked them how did they do it.
I asked them for all the details.
They told me he had gone completely crazy.
He slit her throat, beheaded her, and left her lying there.
Chopped her ears, her nose.
They split her throat. They mutilated her breasts.
This was a really… very ghastly murder. Mm-hmm.
He murdered Asha Bhagat, that poor soul.
We were extremely heartbroken.
He disfigured her completely.
It was really bad.
[eerie music]
[water flowing]
The murder happened in the night, and the next morning,
we were having some snacks at a roadside stall.
and the police van arrived there.
[Vilas] Akku was in the van sitting there with absolute ease.
The police ordered samosas. And they got it packed, you know?
They didn't even bother to pay for it.
They didn't pay, they took the samosas.
And then we saw Akku relishing every bite of those samosas.
[uneasy music]
[Vilas] He was in jail for 16 months.
He was accused of, uh, murdering Asha Bhagat.
So when we met in jail, I saw him there strolling.
Akku Yadav had a distinctive style, a very unique style.
He strolled like this with his hands behind him.
And he saw me. He said, "Rajubhai, how are you?"
I asked him, "You're still in jail?"
He replied, "Won't a lion stroll in his own jungle?"
And you know what would happen in the court cases against Akku?
All the witnesses would accompany him there.
And we knew the verdict in advance.
Even before it was announced, we knew the results
simply because all the witnesses came together.
They turned hostile because they came with the accused,
so the lawyers did not have to work hard in such cases.
CENTRAL JAIL, NAGPUR
[engine revs]
After he was released from jail, he wreaked havoc in Kasturba Nagar.
He was arrogant and really proud of killing a woman.
And then…
he started eyeing and targeting women.
[Shobha] The unrest in the area was unbelievable.
He created a ruckus in every single house every night.
Not a single woman was spared. He terrorized all the women there.
The things that he did were unimaginable.
I can't even describe what all he did.
That is why the women, they were infuriated.
They were boiling with anger, really, all the time.
And these women, they just could not control their anger.
He went to jail.
But when they learned that he has come out,
they could not control their frustration.
[tense music]
[vehicle engine rumbles]
[woman] My sister has been arrested.
All day and night, her child keeps asking, "Where is my mother?"
But we cannot tell the child that she's in jail.
We cannot do something like that.
I want my sister to come home at the earliest.
We want her back anyhow. [sobbing]
[reporter 1] Now the immediate worry is to secure the release of the five women
who have been arrested.
We will go on the 18th to surrender ourselves
and we will try to get them released.
We will be approximately 400 women.
[reporter 2] The strength of unity which will be on full display tomorrow
when these women surrender to the court en masse.
Nobody can deny the fact that women were involved in this crime.
But the question still remains.
Did women kill Akku in the courtroom?
Those poor women working as domestic servants,
will they carry weapons?
Was Akku never alone?
Didn't he ever go anywhere to pee or poop?
Did he even go to take a dump with his entire gang?
They could have killed him in his house itself.
Why only in the court? Tell me.
All those who wanted to shame the entire system,
who made use of this incident and managed to create a massive rift in the society.
These people manipulated women
and misused them completely to achieve this.
We dared them openly and asked them to arrest all the 200 women.
But they failed to prove that the women had not done it.
People write fiction stories.
It's easy to write such fascinating tales.
But this is a different story altogether.
[local male resident 1] Can women kill someone with a knife?
Can the hands that cut vegetables kill somebody?
I don't think so.
[local female resident] When the post-mortem report came in,
it confirmed that the body had a lot of horrible injuries.
Even his intestines had been ripped off completely.
So can women kill so brutally? Can they be so gruesome?
[local male resident 2] Some say men dressed in saris
in the disguise of women
murdered Akku Yadav and then fled from the scene.
[Bhaganbai] "We killed Akku Yadav!
We killed Akku Yadav!
Yes, we really killed him!"
"What are you blabbering about? I don't believe what you're saying!"
[man] Nobody wants to give any credit to the oppressed, the Dalits,
or women for carrying out an act like this.
[Krishnakant] Akku was definitely not murdered by women.
[Chandra] If you ask me, honestly, only women could have done this.
Men aren't capable of it.
[Jaideep] I call it a perfect murder
because the killers are right there in front of you.
Somebody killed him, right?
Seventy-five stab wounds, right in the middle of a courtroom,
and yet nobody knows who killed him and for what reason.
[tense music intensifies]