By IANS
Bangalore : The 43-year-old woman serial killer arrested on Sunday may have murdered at least 10 women, and not six as thought earlier, after relatives of some more missing women stepped forward to suggest she could be behind their murders.
The woman, Kempamma, was arrested from Kalasipalyam area in the heart of the city while she was trying to pawn jewellery she had stolen from her murdered victims.
On Monday, the police said Kempamma, a mother of three children, had killed six women by administering cyanide after robbing them of jewellery and cash. Her first killing was in 1999 and the other five in 2007.
Kempamma has several aliases and went by the names of Mallika, Jayamma, Savitramma etc.
On Wednesday, relatives of three women missing came to the Kalasipalyam police station and identified Kempamma as the person with whom the missing person was last seen.
On Thursday, another family told the police that Kempamma might have killed their missing relative also.
The cases of four missing women also are from 2007.
Kempamma would wait at temples and choose women who looked in distress. She would lure them with the offer of arranging special poojas for their relief, then take them to an isolated place and kill them by giving cyanide.
The police said Kempamma has been making incoherent statements, admitting to some murders and feigning ignorance about others.
A local court Wednesday extended her police custody by 10 days.
If Kempamma does not cooperate in the investigations, then police plan to seek the court’s permission to subject her to narco-analysis.
The investigating team is also seeking from Kempamma information on people from whom she got cyanide.