Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders
The Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders were ten murders committed by Rajendra Jakkal, Dilip Sutar, Shantaram Kanhoji Jagtap and Munawar Harun Shah of Pune, India between January 1976 and March 1977. All the murderers were commercial art students at the Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya, Tilak Road, and were hanged for their crimes on 27 November 1983.[1] The group had acquired a poor reputation on their college campus for robbery and drinking.[2]
Timeline
16 January 1976 – Prakash Hegde
Prakash was a classmate of the killers at Abhinav. His father, Sundar Hegde, ran a small restaurant (Vishwa) behind Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya. The group hatched a plot to
August 1976 – Kolhapur
The gang moved to the city of Kolhapur in August 1976, but were unsuccessful when they targeted the house of a local businessman.[1]
31 October 1976 – Joshi
Achyut Joshi, from Vijaynagar colony, was attacked on the night of 31 October. The group, brandishing knives, forced their way into his house. Joshi and his wife Usha were the only ones at home. After tying the couple's hands and legs, the four strangled Joshi with nylon rope and suffocated his wife. When the Joshis' teenage son, Anand arrived home, they stripped him naked and strangled him with nylon rope. The gang then stole several items, including a
22 November 1976 – Bafana
Yashomati Bafana's bungalow on Shankarseth Road was attacked on the evening of 22 November. However, Bafana and her two servants fought back and the assailants escaped by climbing a barbed-wire fence around the perimeter.
1 December 1976 – Abhyankar
On 1 December 1976 at around 8 pm, the group attacked the Smriti bungalow on Bhandarkar Road belonging to the Abhyankars. There were five people in the house: noted Sanskrit scholar Kashinath Shastri Abhyankar (age 88); his wife Indirabai (age 76); their maid Sakubai Wagh (age 60), granddaughter Jui (age 20) and grandson Dhananjay (age 19). The four gained entrance by ringing the doorbell. When Dhananjay opened the door they stuffed his mouth with a ball of cloth, tied his hands and told him to direct them inside the house. The men killed each person by stuffing their mouths with a ball of cloth, tying their hands and legs and then strangling them with a nylon rope. The granddaughter, Jui, was stripped naked[3] and forced to direct them to the valuables in the house before she was killed.[4][5][6][7][8]
23 March 1977 – Anil Gokhale
Anil Gokhale was the younger brother of a college friend, Jayant Gokhale. On the evening of 23 March 1977, Anil was supposed to meet his brother at the Alka Talkies and was offered a ride home by Jakkal on his motorcycle. He was taken to Jakkal's shed and strangled with a nylon rope. His body was tied to an iron ladder, weighed down with boulders and dumped into the Mula-Mutha River near Bund Garden.
Investigation
Court case
Shamrao G. Samant, a senior criminal lawyer who had conducted many successful prosecutions for the state government, was appointed special public prosecutor for the trial. The case began on 15 May 1978 in
Appeal and execution
After both the
In popular culture
The serial murders have had a lasting impact on popular culture in India, spanning several decades. Some of the more notable pieces to stem from these events are:
- Yes, I Am Guilty (1983) - A Marathi book written by Munawar Shah, one of the murderers. He was the youngest of the four members to commit the violent crimes, and wrote this autobiography while imprisoned.[10]
- Maaficha Sakshidar (1986) - A Marathi film starring Nana Patekar and Mohan Gokhale.[11] The film was based on the execution of the four students who were convicted of ten murders. Patekar played Rajendra Jakkal, in one of his earliest film roles.
- Anurag Kashyap.[12][13] Kashyap's film is "loosely" based on the serial murders, and was never given a theatrical or home-video release. The Central Board of Film Certificationobjected to the film's violence, its depiction of drug abuse, and profanity. However, the film was later screened at several film festivals.
- November 27 (2020) - A play by actor-writer Naren Weiss. The play was later published in Deepak and Raj: Two Indian Plays, which went on to reach #1 on Amazon's playwriting list for 2020.[14]
In addition to these books and films, the Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders have also been featured in episodes of true crime TV series such as Savdhaan India (2012) and Crime Patrol (2015).
See also
- Auto Shankar
- Charles Shobraj
- Noida serial murders
- Raman Raghav
- Stoneman
References
- ^ a b Chandawarkar, Rahul (6 September 1998). "The Evil and the Dead". Mid-Day. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011.
- ^ Chandawarkar, Rahul (9 November 2001). "How to catch a serial killer". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
- ^ Mahindroo, Vaiju (31 January 1977). "Dashmi nights terror: Poona city in grip of panic after gruesome murders of two families". India Today. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ "अंतिम न्याय". Loksatta (in Marathi). 20 September 2013. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ "Munawar Harun Shah v. (Original A-4) | Supreme Court Of India". www.casemine.com. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ "Hiralal M. Shah v. The Central Board Of Film Certification, Bombay And Others". www.casemine.com. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ "पुण्यावर झालेले आघात; आजही ताज्या आहेत त्या जखमा, ज्याने शहराचा चेहरामोहराच बदलला | 📰 LatestLY मराठी". LatestLY मराठी (in Marathi). 26 January 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ "Joshi-Abhyankar Serial Murder case". 16 July 2018.
- ^ Martins, Reena (11 January 2006). "Body of evidence". Telegraph India. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ "Book Said to Me..." 22 March 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
- ^ "Mohan Gokhale is dead". Rediff. 29 April 1999. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
- ^ Paanch
- ^ "Reality Check". Telegraph India. 18 June 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ "Amazon Hot New Releases". Amazon. 27 June 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
Further reading
- Ramakant Kulkarni, Footprints on the Sands of Crime. MacMillan India (2004), ISBN 978-1-4039-2361-5