The 'Butcher of Delhi,' Chanderkant Jha, was apprehended by police on Saturday following a months-long manhunt, according to news agency PTI. After skipping parole in October 2023, the 57-year-old criminal had been evading arrest for almost a year. According to Additional Commissioner of Police Sanjay Kumar Sain, the Delhi police arrested him on January 17 after receiving a tip while he was trying to escape to Bihar from the Old Delhi Railway Station.
A recent documentary titled "Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi" has brought attention to Jha's case.
Who Is Chanderkant Jha?
Known as the "Butcher of Delhi," Chanderkant Jha killed and dismembered eighteen victims in West Delhi between 1998 and 2007.
Born in 1967, Jha left Bihar in 1990 to seek employment in Delhi. He lived close to Azadpur Mandi and, having only completed the eighth grade of school, worked in a variety of low-paying jobs. In addition to having five daughters, he was married twice.
Chanderkant Jha's strategy was to befriend people, mostly other migrants, by giving them food, shelter, and employment.
However, every small mistake on their part would be interpreted as a "wrong," which would support the severe punishment that Jha imposed.
When Chanderkant Jha killed Mangal, also known as Aurangzeb, in Adarsh Nagar, Delhi, in 1998, and dispersed the man's body parts throughout the city, it was the first murder ever documented.
He continued to commit horrific killings after being detained in 1998 and then freed in 2002.
Jha killed his associate Shekhar in Haiderpur in June 2003 because he thought he was a liar and an alcoholic. Then, in November of same year, he boldly dumped the body of a Bihar migrant named Umesh close to Tihar jail after killing him for "betraying him."
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He killed Guddu in 2005 because he smoked marijuana. In 2006, he killed a man named Amit on suspicion of being a womanizer and dumped his body outside Tihar jail.
Amit had an identical fate in October 2006 when his body was discovered outside Tihar Jail after he was accused of womanizing. A man named Upender and another named Dilip's remains were discovered outside Tihar's gate number one month apart in 2007. One of them was killed for consuming non-vegetarian cuisine, and the other was killed for having an extramarital affair.
Jha was ultimately found guilty of three murders in 2013 and received two death sentences, which were later reduced to life in prison. But in 2023, he received a 90-day parole, which allowed him to flee.
A team followed and questioned Jha's relatives, acquaintances, and people he had previously worked with throughout Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh over the course of several months, according to Additional Police Commissioner Sain. Additionally, a Rs 50,000 reward was given for Jha's capture.