Netflix’s Indian true crime docu-series Indian Predator is back with its second instalment. Indian Predator: The Diary of a Serial Killer follows the crimes and conviction of Ram Niranjan, a man who had been accused of killing 14 people and cannibalising some of them.
Directed by Dheeraj Jindal, the docu-series, generously sprinkled with gory visuals and ominous background music, also dives into the murky depths of the killer’s mind and the layered complexities of caste politics.
Here’s why it is worth a watch for true crime buffs.
Cuts straight to the killer
Unlike the previous season, which painstakingly built up the mystery surrounding the ‘Delhi butcher’ Chandrakanta Jha, the latest season of Indian Predator takes no time to take a stab at the heart of the matter.
The first episode starts with journalist Dhirendra Singh going missing and before long, we get to know that he has been killed by Ram Niranjan. Following Ram’s arrest and murder confession, the investigating officers search his pig farm to discover a diary with the names of more victims. Ram was unveiled as a serial killer in the first episode. The rest of the two episodes are dedicated to exploring his motives and hunger for power.
Power and politics
The investigating officers claim that Ram confessed to killing a total of 14 people. The motive behind the killings varied depending on the victims. While some were killed for financial gains or the need to keep their mouth shut, others were killed for occult rituals. The docu-series brings in a clinical psychologist and social workers to explore Ram’s alleged murders and cannibalism.
The fact that Ram came from the marginalised Kol tribe and was a non-vegetarian who consumed pork appeared to have convinced the officers that he had eaten some of his “intelligent” victims’ body parts for mental or physical strength.
Ram also went by the alias Raja Kolandar, which means the ‘king of the Kol tribe’. He changed his wife’s name to Phoolan Devi, the famous female dacoit, and named his children Adalat (court), Zamanat (bail) and Andolan (protest). A clinical psychologist on the show points out that Ram saw himself as the king who had the right to judge and execute his victims.
Ram mostly targeted upper-caste Hindu men. His treatment of his victim’s body depended on their religion and caste. Ram confessed that after killing and cannibalising a Brahmin, he buried the body and planted a banyan tree there to “absolve” his “sin of killing a brahmin”. However, when he killed and cannibalised a Muslim, he threw his corpse into a river, “denying the man’s soul salvation by not burying him”.
Two sides of the story
In Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi, we only got to see Chandrakant painted as a psychopathic killer. But Indian Predator: The Diary of a Serial Killer shows two sides of the story.
On the one hand, the investigating officers, lawyers and a clinical psychologist paint Ram as a power-hungry killer. On the other hand are his now-adult children and his jail mates who remember him as a “kind, calm and spiritual man”.
In the docu-series, Ram claims the police falsely accused him of also murdering people who had gone missing and some who were still alive.
Where is Ram Niranjan now?
On November 30, 2012, Ram was found guilty of murdering Dhirendra as well as killing Manoj Singh and Ravi Shrivastava during a carjacking attempt. He was never found guilty of murdering the men listed in his diary or of cannibalism. He was sentenced to life in prison along with his brother-in-law, Vaksharaj, who was his accomplice in the three murders. His appeal to overturn the life sentence remains pending. Ram is currently in the high-security Unnao District Jail.
