By Sahil Makkar, IANS
New Delhi : Some call him ‘Krrish’, the superhero from Hindi cinema who magically leaps from one building to another, others call him a ghost and there are those who label him Hammer Man – whatever the title, the nameless killer has struck terror in a west Delhi colony after allegedly bludgeoning three women to death.
And police think he is a misogynist targeting unarmed, unsuspecting women – killing three and injuring several.
The killer has sent fear rippling through the slum cluster of Baljeet Nagar with its 300,000 people, mostly illiterate and working as labourers, struggling to survive through the day and guarding the women at night against the killer in their midst.
His latest victim is Sudarshana, a 45-year-old widow found Thursday morning without any clothes and bleeding severely from the head in her one room tenement in the colony, close to the affluent locality of Patel Nagar.
Sudarshana, who was brought declared dead at the nearby Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, lived alone and had been attacked about a month ago.
She was the third woman to have died in the same way in two months. All three were brutally hit on the head, probably by a blunt object.
While Sudarshana was inside, the other two women were attacked while sleeping on the rooftops of their houses in these hot days when power cuts are routine.
“She (Sudarshana) had survived a similar attack on the head a month ago. But this time the killer managed to achieve his motive.
“All women and young girls are living in terror. We are terrified and don’t leave the house after sunset,” Sudarshana’s neighbour Pooja Chaddha told IANS.
The fear is palpable. And the fact that the latest incident occurred despite people in the area patrolling the congested and narrow bylanes of their urban slum with sticks and bamboos has exacerbated the insecurity.
They begin their nightly beat at 11 p.m. when power goes off in the area and continue the vigil until 3 a.m. when the electricity returns.
Sheela, a Nepali who settled in the slum 12 years ago and survived an attack in the dead of the night last month, said she lives in constant terror.
“I was sleeping on the rooftop of my house when somebody hit me with enormous force on the head. After the incident, I am very frightened and have purchased two sticks to fight the killer,” she said.
Police are no less tense and at a loss how to deal with the situation.
The pattern is eerily similar. All his victims are women, all having been hit by blunt objects. In no case have valuables been stolen, ruling out robbery as a motive.
“We are very confused and tense. Who could be this psychopath serial killer and why is he killing people?” asked a senior police official investigating the case.
“But one thing is clear. The accused is a resident of the same area and knows it very well,” he added, pointing out that it was almost impossible for an unknown person to just disappear as the lanes in the area are narrow and built haphazardly.
Even more disturbing – around the same time last year, at least two women were murdered and seven sustained such injuries in a similar assault. Police say all such incidents are linked and the accused wants to create panic among the residents.
“We have deployed extra staff in the area and mounted more surveillance. We are hopeful of cracking the cases soon,” said the station house officer of the Anand Parbat police station.
Till they do, fear trawls the lanes of Baljeet Nagar.