Ram Niranjan is an Indian serial killer and cannibal, who used to work as a driver in the Central Ordnance Depot, Naini. He came into the public eye after committing the murder of Dhirendra Singh, a reporter for a Hindi daily. In September 2022, a documentary based on his criminal activities was released on Netflix with the name ‘Indian Predator: The Diary of a Serial Killer.’
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Ram Niranjan aka Raja Kolandar or Raja Kalander was born in 1962 (age 60 years; as of 2022) in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. He did not have any formal education.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 10″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Niranjan belongs to the Kol community.
Parents & Siblings
There is not much information available about his parents and siblings.
Wife & Children
His wife, Phoolan Devi, is a politician and member of a gram panchayat. The couple has two sons named Adalat and Zamanat. Apparently, the names of his wife and sons are not real, and Kolandar used these names to refer to his wife and children during the police interrogation.
Other Relatives
His brother-in-law, Vaksharaj, assisted him in various murders.
Address
Ram Sagar Village, Thana Naini, Allahabad
Raja Kolandar- The Man Eater
In childhood, Ram Niranjan was not very intelligent and did not attend school. His family members used to taunt him for this and compared him with other children. This left a deep effect on him. In his teens, he became a short-tempered person, and he once killed a person for not giving him a lift in a car. In 2001, the chief reporter and journalist of the Hindi newspaper ‘Aaj’ went missing in Allahabad. His family members filed a missing complaint at a nearby police station. Being a known face in the town, the local police immediately started searching for the journalist. During the initial investigation, the police noted that around 20 other people also went missing from the town within a few months. However, the police could not trace any similarity between the missing cases. They then tracked Dhirendra’s call details. The last number he had called and received a call from was a landline no. of a woman named Phoolan Devi, but when she was asked about the call, she denied making a call. The local police then asked her family members about the call, and then her husband Niranjan said that he called Dhirendra for some work. The local police did not find any lead from the call details and decided to investigate the case from another angle. They started studying the 20 missing cases to find any connection between them. Some of the local people who went missing were Kaali Charan Srivastav (security guard), Ashok (driver), Santosh (cleaner), and Mueen (an expert in hypnotism). However, the local police could not find any lead even after studying all the missing cases, and the only thing which came out was that all who went missing were known for their intelligence in the village. Later, one thing which struck the mind of the local police was the timing of the last call made to Dhirendra which was 12:15 am, as the people in that village used to sleep maximum by 9 pm-10 pm. The local police then decided to question Niranjan and Phoolan Devi again, but this time with their background details. Later, a team of local police arrived at Niranjan’s home for investigation. His wife and sons came out clean. Then, the local police started questioning Niranjan. Initially, he tried to fool them, but after a series of questions, he said,
I need to eat some daal before saying something. I will not eat a bowl of daal but a pressure cooker full of daal. I will tell you something, but do not arrest me.”
After eating the daal, he escorted the local police to a room on his farms in Pipri, Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh. When they reached in front of the room, Niranjan started his story, he said,
This room and farm are of Raja Kolandar who is the most intelligent person and it is very difficult for anyone to find him. He organises his adaalat here and punishes people.”
He then pulled a severed head from a sack lying near the room. The local police were stunned to see it, and within a few seconds, Niranjan pulled another severed head. Niranjan said that the first one was of Srivastav Ji (Kalicharan Srivastav) and the other was of Mueen Bhai. Pointing towards a tree on his farm, he said other skulls are tied by the cruel king to that tree. When he was asked about the journalist Dhirendra, he said,
Raja had cut his body into several pieces and disposed them.”
The local police then asked him who was Raja Kolandar and where he was. Niranjan then started making stories, but when he was asked strictly, he came out with the truth. On hearing the truth, the local police were shocked to know that Raja Kolandar was his brainchild. He used to consider himself Raja so he kept his name Raja Kolandar. Later, he shared how he killed the journalist Dhirendra,
On 14 December 2000, I called Dhirendra to my farm to give him some important information, while he was sitting near a bonfire, my brother-in-law Vaksharaj, fired on him with a desi pistol and we beheaded him and disposed of other parts of his body in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh. I had a doubt that Dhirendra knew everything about me and would expose me, so I killed him. We kept his Tata Sumo.”
Ram Niranjan with the local police
Modus Operandi
Being an average child, Niranjan was often compared with other children by his parents, which left a great impact on his brain. When he grew up, he started finding people who were known for their intelligence in his village. He used to behead such people and dispose rest of their body. He then took out the brain of the victims, make their soup and drank it. He believed that it would help sharpening his brain. Further, he painted the skull in different colours and wrote the caste/religion of the person on the skull and tied it to the tree. He once killed a Kayastha man just because he believed that Kayastha people were intelligent.
The Secret Diary
The local police then found a diary in his room. In the diary, he had filled 14 pages, and on each page, he wrote the name, religion/caste of the victim with a cross. On the first page of the diary, Kalicharan Srivastav was written and on the last page, Dhirendra’s name was written. Later, Niranjan confessed that from 1992 to 2000, he had killed around 30 people.
Court’s Verdict in the Case
On Niranjan’s arrest, his wife said that she used to feel that he had some psychological issues, but he could not kill anyone. Niranjan was even tested by psychiatrists, but according to the reports, he did not have any psychological problems. According to media sources,
The illiterate Ram Niranjan was a cruel and vicious mind since childhood. He used to get relief by hurting others. This very nature of his pushed him into the world of Geryam. The Kolandar of the coal fraternity had created panic in Shankargarh. To whomever he looked with his eyes, the fear of death started haunting him. On the strength of this fear, he acquired the title of Raja from the fraternity. He used to bleed the children playing together in sports. As he got older, insanity dominated his mind. Those who know Kolandar say that he liked to drink the fresh blood of the goat. He often hosted meat feasts with friends at his farmhouse. In the meantime, the illiterate Kolandar came to know from somewhere that the brain gets sharpened by eating sent from a human, then he became thirsty for human blood. After killing people, the male vampire Kolandar took out their sentries and started eating them. Kolandar was also very fond of clothes. Whenever he goes out to go somewhere, he used to wear boots and sunglasses.”
Ram Niranjan on being arrested
In 2001, a charge sheet was filed against him, and due to the lack of proofs, it took almost 11 years, to put Niranjan and his brother-in-law (his alliance) behind the bars. They were fined Rs 10,000 each with life imprisonment.
Ram Niranjan and his brother-in-law
In Popular Culture
Based on Niranjan’s murders, a Hindi Netflix documentary ‘Indian Predator: The Diary of a Serial Killer’ was released in 2022.
Indian Predator- The Diary of a Serial Killer (2022)
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Anjali Arora Wiki
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn