CRIME
In this episode of Jurm,
the pages of a man-eater's diary
will reveal a tale of brutality.
As we flipped through the pages of his diary
on every page, a harrowing murder was revealed.
The name of this cannibal is
Raja Kolander.
Raja Kolander's crimes exposed at last.
FINALLY CAUGHT AFTER 14 MURDERS
Do you know who Raja Kolander is?
He murdered my father.
Since, a journalist was murdered
and because of the brutality of the crime,
the entire reporter fraternity was rattled.
DEATH OF FELLOW REPORTER DHEERENDRA HAS LEFT US BAFFLED AND ANGRY
DHEERENDRA'S MURDER COMPELS TO THINK
Kolander thought that he was falsely implicated
because of the reporters.
Some reporters asked him why he did that.
He said that he would let them know once he is back.
He claimed that he was a victim of a media trial.
TERRIFYING TALE OF A SAVAGE
RAJA - THE BUTCHER OF CORPSES
He was in complete denial.
Why don't you talk about the people who are still alive?
Weren't you the one who revealed it?
PSYCHO KILLER PROCLAIMED HIMSELF KING WAS EXCITED BY THE SIGHT OF CORPSES
MOST SAVAGE CRIMINAL IN THE WORLD, RAJA KOLANDER
RAJA KOLANDER'S DEEDS ARE MORE TERRIFYING THAN "JACK THE RIPPER"
RAJA KOLANDER, DEADLIEST KILLER IN THE WHOLE WORLD
Reporters were making up sensations and the police supported them.
ALL OF KOLANDER'S CRIMES DOESN'T FIND A MENTION IN THE CHARGESHEET
RAJA WAS ADDICTED TO DRINKING BLOOD
HIS MODUS OPERANDI WAS ATTACKING FROM BEHIND
Unless he was punished
Dheerendra wouldn't get justice.
A cold-blooded killer like him has no right to live.
I will not get justice until Raja Kolander is hanged.
You can't send anyone to the gallows just because the media says so.
TRUTH SHALL PREVAIL
DISTRICT PRISON, UNNAO
I usually wake up by 3:30 a.m.
Then I practice deep breathing and meditation.
I do breathing exercises.
The next 15 minutes are for the prison headcount.
Then I return and read Ramayana.
All I read is Ramayana and Bhagvad Gita.
DISTRICT PRISON, UNNAO
I'm from the 1993 batch of the state administrative services
and I was appointed as Jail Superintendent.
When I was transferred to Lucknow Jail,
it was a high-security prison.
I was posted there.
And even before my arrival
Raja Kolander was imprisoned there
in a high-security cell.
DISTRICT PRISON, LUCKNOW
My name is Shailesh Kumar Gupta.
In 2008,
I was an under-trial prisoner
in Naini Central Jail.
That's where I heard about Raja Kolander.
NAINI CENTRAL PRISON, PRAYAGRAJ
My fellow inmates would usually tell me,
pointing at Raja Kolander that he was a cannibal.
Looking at him, I felt strange and terrified too.
But Raja Kolander was always isolated from the rest.
He was mostly seen offering prayers
or reading books related to law.
Because he was aware of his rights and the legal process.
He was aware that
declaring a hunger strike in jail rattles the authorities
and matters get escalated quickly.
So, he would often exploit such weak points
against the prison authorities.
It never felt that Raja Kolander was facing 14 counts of heinous crimes,
like Section 302 was levied against him.
It was never evident from his behavior.
If anyone had any problems with legal formalities,
he would help them file applications.
If anyone had to complain to the jail administration,
since most inmates are illiterate, he would try to help them.
I was told that he is a "monster"
but I never witnessed the "monster",
I only saw a man who wanted to help others
even when he had no resources.
DISTRICT PRISON, LUCKNOW
Radicalization was a huge issue in Lucknow jail.
Most Pakistani prisoners and those accused of terrorist activity
were locked up in that high-security cell.
We had input about a case where a Hindu inmate
was often seen hanging out
with the Pakistani inmates, it could be a potential case of radicalization.
But in his case, since Kolander was quite religious
as well as firmly spiritual,
we used his intelligence input to deal with those prisoners.
So, we sought his help.
I told them everything. How they were served special meals.
And, how those terrorists were provided with cigarettes inside the prison.
This is India. You can't transform India into Pakistan.
One of them claimed that ripples of his terror activities
would be felt in Delhi. I told him,
"Forget Delhi, even Lucknow is beyond your reach!"
We worship cows and they eat them. How dare they do so!
They were Pakistani terrorists, not Indians.
How could the Indian inmate even think of helping them?
At the end of it all,
I felt he took benefit of the situation.
The input he gave was pretty normal.
In fact, I got the same input from others too.
In a way he double-crossed us.
They consider themselves smarter than the law enforcement.
They often have a good, vast storehouse of knowledge
about police, about the criminal justice system.
They try to put you into a category and manipulate you.
Right? And they feel that they can do it very fast, very quickly,
and they're smarter than you.
Now, these geniuses won't understand.
They are full of arrogance.
By the way, you are also a genius!
But if only a few understand, it doesn't make a lot of difference.
If I converse with you, you will understand.
I can talk to only 10 out of 100.
And once I talk to a person, he will understand properly.
The ones who don't will only see me as a cannibal.
There was a deputy here earlier.
My first encounter with him wasn't smooth.
He asked me why I drank blood.
I asked him how he knew and if he had ever seen me do it.
He felt offended.
When the parade was going on,
I saw him using a mobile phone.
I asked him who he was.
He said he was an inmate too.
I slapped him right there. How could an inmate use a mobile phone in jail!
He left.
Too late! He was already insulted.
Why did he have to tell me that he was an inmate?
He should have told me that he was a deputy Jail Superintendent.
He was in plain clothes.
Why did he have to act smart? He was never seen again.
He took a transfer.
From 2008 to around 2015,
he was continuously in solitary confinement.
In a separate cell.
There were rumors that Raja Kolander was held separately
because if kept with regular inmates he would eat them too.
UTTAR PRADESH POLICE
I was in Naini for 16 years.
The superintendent's surname was Srivastav,
and I was accused of killing a Srivastav
His plan was to keep me with regular inmates.
So that he could get me beaten up if I refused to comply.
I was like, "Try whatever you want to!"
So, I was with regular inmates for two years.
But they hardly received any complaints. Everyone was drawn to me.
For example, one fellow was really poor.
He had no one to fight his case.
I helped him file an appeal with the high court
and got him a bail.
I helped one or two like that for free, and soon, the word spread.
Then everyone started coming to me. That would affect my meditation.
There was a jail official named Shukla.
I told him how it was affecting my meditation.
I asked him for a solitary cell.
He asked me to write an application
because I seemed pretty normal.
Apparently, they only keep dangerous criminals
in solitary confinement.
So, I wrote an application
because they claimed they needed it for documentation.
Finally, he allotted me a separate room.
The presence of other people would be very disturbing for him.
They would like a structured and ordered environment
in order to feel that they're in control of themselves.
So for example, a person like him,
who is delusional and hallucinating,
others around him would point out what is happening.
They would tell him that there is something wrong with him.
But he doesn't want to hear that there is something wrong with him.
The more alone he stays, the more he can be his own king.
-Long live… -Morality!
-Down with… -Immorality!
-May the truth… -Prevail!
During my time in prison,
my goal was to convey the message of God
to the biggest of criminals there.
During such discussions,
people told me about a certain Raja Kolander
who was imprisoned
for a grievous crime
and was in a cell.
I gave him my message.
Then he began writing to me
to clarify some questions and doubts about spirituality.
Then I answered all of his questions to his satisfaction.
He was so influenced that
he became a staunch devotee of my Guru His Holiness Prabhu Shraddhanand.
He followed a guru named Prabhu Shraddhanand.
He would always chant his name. I nodded along.
Because if I would share my views on religion, he would not have carried on.
So, I had to go along with his faith.
Only then affection will build.
There can be no affection if there is doubt.
He even wrote to me once.
That whatever might have been the reason which landed him in jail,
but his journey was now fruitful
as he had found god, and he promised me
that the day he would be released from jail,
he would dedicate his life
to serve my seminary and towards spirituality,
and Prabhu Shraddhanand.
His ritual practices were way too much.
You may call it abnormal.
He would pray for six to eight hours.
He would usually chant with a garland of beads.
He probably believed that repeating a chant thousands of times
would fulfill his wishes.
Seemed like he had an inclination toward occult practices.
He would often talk of Goddess Baglamukhi, who is believed to bestow powers.
He said he wanted to attain "Siddhi",
so as to achieve the powers of Goddess Baglamukhi.
What you popularly call Goddess Baglamukhi is the Forest Goddess for us.
Those who worshipped the Forest Goddess
would usually offer a sacrifice.
In earlier times, they would sacrifice pigs or goats.
Now they even sacrifice roosters.
In fact, once he even made arrangements
to start a ritualistic fire
inside his cell.
But smoke coming from a cell at night triggered the siren.
Everyone panicked wondering where the smoke came from.
He told them he had started a ritualistic fire
to attain mystical powers.
If he was worshiping the deity Baglamukhi,
especially at night,
it means he wanted to acquire power from "black magic."
Baglamukhi is the deity of shamans,
who is perceived as a device
to acquire powers through "tantric" occult practices.
God dwells in your heart.
When it enters your being, it guides you at every step.
This is how the public sees spiritual people.
They may think he's mentally unstable
but in reality, he's beyond their comprehension.
If he starts talking to god,
they will wonder if he's gone mad.
But only that person knows.
So, can you talk to God?
Well, let's not dig deeper than that.
I prefer to keep it confidential.
God's message to me has been, to do what needs to be done.
God is present to handle the rest.
There was a very high chance that he was delusional,
and he also could be hallucinating at times
with voices commanding him to kill.
I have a natural resistance to killing anyone, and so have you.
But these people, when that breaks down, they don't have it.
You have to abdicate your will, your personal responsibility,
and what better way to do it than create hallucination
and say that voices told me to go ahead and do that.
COMMITTED 14 MURDERS
DENIES ALL ACCUSATIONS
TWO SKULLS RECOVERED FROM PIGGERY FARM
AND TWO SKULLS INSIDE THE HOUSE
INSANE, BRUTAL, INHUMAN, TERRIFYING
KILLER, FIERCE, MAN-EATER
If you study the criminal history of Ram Niranjan,
he might seem like a very interesting character.
A character who lives in an imagined reality.
On one hand, he repeatedly gets hurt due to reality,
and the society around him.
On the other hand, the imagined reality of the things he has lost,
and he wants it back.
And, these two conflicting aspects
form the core of his personality.
Raja Kolander always wanted
to enter politics through crime.
He believed himself to be the king of Kols.
That's why he titled his diary as Raja's Diary.
RAJA'S DIARY
Yes, he would have an alternate reality
inside his head that he's a king.
He's different.
That itself is a delusion.
Kings have a special significance in the Kol community.
Just as we have an administration now,
similarly the Kol community had kings
and they had an administration.
They even had laws and regulations of their own.
His actual name was Ram Niranjan.
But Raja Kolander means the "king of Kols."
It's a very spiritual kind of name.
Ram Niranjan…
It does not signify control.
And, he would be going about in his mind and saying,
"The name Ram Niranjan does not denote any control."
Let me think of words or names which signify control.
Which signifies power over others.
He would put up signs outside his home
stating that "Raja is not home."
The visitors could literally read "The king is not home."
So he feels that he has got greater control
over his universe, over his people by doing so.
The way his mind worked was very different.
He would think of himself as a king.
Hence, when he committed murders it was as if he sentenced them to death.
He would write down their names. He would think he had administered justice.
He would act like a king, judge who was wrong,
and hand out sentences.
The way the king has absolute right to dispense with life
or take away the life of his subject.
These people, perhaps for him,
turned out to be his subjects whose life he could take
and do whatever he wanted to as he pleased.
What about the name "Raja Kolander" you gave to yourself?
No! Everyone fondly called me Raja Sahab or Raja Bhaiyya
because I was the youngest in the family.
Nowhere you'll see my name written as Raja Kolander.
I am being tried here under the name Ram Niranjan.
But in Lucknow, it was Raja Kolander.
Because I think they didn't investigate it closely.
They scribbled down my name while taking down orders and added
the alias Raja Kolander to my name.
I don't clearly remember his formal name.
I know him as Raja Kolander.
Everyone knew him as Raja Kolander.
Even the letters he would send me were signed
"Crime Supremo, Raja Kolander," and "RK" for short.
I CAN COMMIT MANY MURDERS FOR YOU
I CAN GRAB ANY LAND FOR YOU AND EVEN FIRE AN AK-47 FOR YOU
Kolander's criminal mentality is evident
from the fact that he named his children
Adalat, Jamanat, and Andolan.
One son was named Adalat which means "court."
Another son, Jamanat, meaning "bail,"
and, a daughter named Andolan, meaning "revolt."
The justice protocol in the modern electoral system
has terms like "courtroom" and "court hearing."
And he still harbored
the same old notion of justice from jungles.
When he learned about courtrooms, he named his son Adalat.
"Revolt" is needed to gain power.
He had witnessed how revolting
could pressurize the administration
into yielding to your demands.
So, he named his daughter Andolan.
Jamanat is very interesting because speaking metaphorically
and considering the local history,
I feel Jamanat or "bail"
is important for two types of people.
One are the wrongdoers
and the other are protestors.
People were getting arrested during protests in his area.
Then they would get bail.
These are the concepts which would be going on inside his head.
"Court, bail, revolt…" Right?
Now, a person like Raja Kolander would imagine
that his actions are a part of the legal criminal justice system.
That he's the criminal justice system
and the system begins with him.
That he is beyond the criminal justice system.
Somebody in my in-law's family had won a court case that day.
So, I named him Adalat to rejoice the occasion.
-You named another "Jamanat." -Yes.
Jamanat was just his nickname, his actual name is Naveen Kumar.
Naveen Kumar.
I gave them such outlandish names so that they stood out.
Uttar Pradesh police believes that
Ram Niranjan alias Raja Kolander is an intelligent criminal
who can trick you into believing his stories.
But the court demands proof.
From Kolander, the police recovered a Tata Sumo stolen from Lucknow.
How did he get this vehicle?
Was the reporter Veerendra Singh also related to this Tata Sumo?
In those times, Kol tribals did not own vehicles.
During the times in question here,
Kol tribals could barely afford motorbikes.
My father owned a Sumo car and a Jeep car.
And a scooter too.
I do not know how he got them.
I was around 18 then, but yes, he did own a vehicle.
It's true.
I had no car, just had one scooter. A Member of Parliament owned a Tata Sumo.
We used that for election campaigns and travel.
They have accused me of stealing a Jeep from Chitrakoot.
I knew a person named Vijay Bahadur Singh.
When he retired from service, he bought a Jeep.
He would offer passenger rides and parked it at my home sometimes.
Even I would borrow it at times.
I would use it to run errands
or for election campaigns.
He had the Tata Sumo before he entered politics.
He owned it even before that.
-Even before? -Yes.
In fact, both the vehicles.
DISTRICT COUNCIL MEMBER
Speaking of that Tata Sumo…
The one which got him caught…
When I asked him about it he told me his wife was ill
and he had taken her to Lucknow.
To come back, he had hired a vehicle,
and the driver was someone named Ravi.
The vehicle owner was named Manoj.
MANOJ SINGH RAVI SRIVASTAVA
It happened on 23 January, 2000.
Some people booked the vehicle for Allahabad for transporting a patient.
Since, our home is on the Lucknow-Allahabad highway,
they came to my place
at around 5 or 6 o'clock.
I thought it was a usual patient.
So, I offered them tea.
Meanwhile, Manoj and Ravi got dressed.
At around 6:00 p.m.,
our vehicle left for Allahabad.
The plan was to drop them off and return in three hours or so.
I grew suspicious when the vehicle didn't return even after 10:00 p.m.
We started getting crazy thoughts.
We were afraid it got surrounded by miscreants
because there was no means of contact in those days.
When the vehicle didn't return at night,
we left from home with our other cars
to search for the vehicle in the same direction.
From Raebareli to Allahabad.
We had gone to Lucknow
for my brother's housewarming function.
-How did you travel there? -By train.
We participated in the ritualistic prayers,
and we also had to return.
We didn't have the Tata Sumo then.
Did you have the Jeep Commander then?
Yes, maybe we did.
Yes, I think we have traveled in that Commander SUV.
A few others had arrived by train.
Everyone couldn't fit in. Ours was a big family.
Only the important ones traveled in the Jeep.
That's how we came back too. The Tata Sumo was never there.
Raja Kolander told me they were returning in the Tata Sumo.
So, he changed his mind.
He planned to kill and dispose of them both
and steal the vehicle since he didn't have one.
Just a few miles from Shankargarh,
the terrain changes to a jungle.
That's where he killed the driver and the conductor
and dumped their bodies.
And then, he kept the vehicle.
We reached Allahabad searching for the vehicle.
We had many friends from the media fraternity
accompanying us from Raebaraeli.
Through their contacts,
we got in touch with media personnel from Allahabad.
Dheerendra was one among them.
We circulated the details, color and make of the vehicle.
When we filed a complaint and came back home,
Dheerendra was the one who found out that it was our vehicle.
Kolander had changed…
the color of the Tata Sumo.
He had painted the white SUV green.
We found out much later
that the registration plates on it belonged to a motorcycle.
DISTRICT COUNCIL MEMBER
Dheerendra once told me
that Kolander was into something shady and illegal.
He wanted to expose Kolander.
Dheerendra told me this just 20 days before he was murdered.
Even Kolander sensed that he might soon be exposed.
Maybe, Dheerendra had asked him a few questions.
There is no doubt that Kolander was a heinous criminal.
Other serial killers have different motives.
But Kolander's motive was to gain power.
His hunger for money
and his mad thirst for power
pushed him further towards crime.
To describe Ram Niranjan's personality at a deeper level,
he seems like a person who lives in metaphors.
And those metaphors arise from his imagined reality.
Andolan, Jamanat
Phoolan Devi, Raja Kolander…
They are all metaphors
in which he is living and there's a desire behind them.
In his desire for power, he tried to pursue politics,
but entering into politics is not easy.
It is regulated by middlemen.
And that was not an option for him because he was a common man.
An ordinary Kol tribesman.
The political environment back then was conducive for a subaltern uprising.
It was very much in its favor.
That was the era when the Bahujan Samaj Party was on the rise.
Many new faces
of the Dalit community became legislators and ministers.
Mayawati was Chief Minister for four terms.
Phoolan Devi emerged as a great leader in Uttar Pradesh.
Ram Niranjan wished to enter the same arena
Such desires for power were not unusual.
But the path he chose was invented by himself.
Kolander would do all of that which gave him power.
Like, worshiping Goddess Baglamukhi for gaining power.
Aspiring to contest in democratic elections.
Contesting elections himself, or making his wife or sister-in-law contest.
Aspiring to become a Member of Legislative Assembly
because he had the votes of the Kol clan.
He wanted to acquire more power
using the votes of his community and he pursued that.
DISTRICT COUNCIL MEMBER
Second, stealing the Tata Sumo.
Then, Tata Sumo was quite symbolic.
In a way, that Tata Sumo depicted power
in the rural community.
Previously, rich men owned elephants in villages.
In modern times, they owned SUVs.
So, he stole that Tata Sumo.
Then, he loaned out money to people.
He was not lending as a money lender.
He wouldn't charge interest.
He wanted to experience
the power of being a giver.
Who has such power? One who is affluent.
So, he wanted to experience the might of being a giver
and fulfill his notion of power.
He wants to acquire all the power.
All possible kinds of power.
One of his victims from the Lala caste had said
that he will plot a way to not return his money
because Lalas presumably have a sharp mind.
The power of brains.
He was labeled a tribal all his life, a simpleton from the jungles.
He was told he wasn't intelligent.
He was afraid that the Lala's clever ploys would dominate him.
So, he killed him, boiled his brain, and drank it.
He wanted to internalize the power of his brain.
Or else, why would he drink his brain?
There are other ways to satisfy meat cravings.
So, basically all his life,
he tried to acquire power in every possible way
that occurred to him.
DISTRICT COUNCIL MEMBER
TRUTH SHALL PREVAIL
One person commits crime.
But the society faces the consequences
for many years to come.
Whatever he did
was aimed at gaining power, for his own selfish motives,
to prove himself powerful in the society,
and not for the sake of his community.
The ordinary Kols of the region
used to criticize him.
In fact, they still do.
We agree, we too believe that a criminal has no caste.
To us, it never seemed, that Raja Kolander ever had regrets.
I visited him on the day of his sentencing.
DISTRICT COURT, ALLAHABAD
When the lawyers and reporters were clicking his photos
he told them that he was caught because of them.
Those were his words.
This is a media trial and mob justice.
I am completely innocent.
-Let's move. -Okay.
Now, I do not care
whether they release me or not.
After these many accusations, I would only be released when my case is decided.
Spirituality that is all I have.
Now I don't even care if I'm released.
DISTRICT PRISON, UNNAO
He should be inside for his safety
and for the safety of others.
If Raja Kolander is even released
or granted parole, he will surely commit a crime.
I will say it again.
Because that's his primal nature.
And when he a commits crime, he will again be a threat to society.
I don't think that such criminals
should be released into society so soon.
Some more time should pass. He should age a little more.
So that he isn't physically capable of committing crimes.
Raja Kolander…
is not someone whom you'll meet every day.
His personality is unique.
You may meet criminals every day.
But such a criminal who lives in metaphors
and imagined realities,
who can resort to black magic,
elections, commit murders for power, one who has such a range,
whether good or bad-- is impossible to find.
Subtitle translation by: Bharath VH