Chandrakant Jha is an Indian vegetable seller and plastic vendor. From 1998 to 2007, he killed and dismembered his seven friends. He is known as ‘The Butcher of Delhi’ for brutally killing his associates.
Wiki/Biography
Chandrakant Jha was born in 1967 (age 55 years; as of 2022) in Ghosai, Madhepura, Bihar. He studied up to class 8.
Physical Appearance
Height: 5′ 10″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Brown
Family
Parents & Siblings
His father, Radhey Kant Jha, worked in the irrigation department. His mother, Champadevi, was a school teacher. He has five siblings named Nityanand, Indranand, Kalanand, Sadanand, and Deepak Kumar out of which one is working at the Central Reserve Police Force and the other works at Bihar State Police.
Wife & Children
In his teens, he married a girl from his village, and within a year of his marriage, he separated from her. In 1997, while he was in Delhi, he met a girl named Mamata in his locality. They both fell in love with each other and got married. The couple has five daughters. In an interview, while talking about Jha, Mamata said,
We had a love marriage. He is tall and good-looking and very smart. He was 13 years older than me. His parents were big people his father retired from the government, and his mother was a school teacher. I don’t know how far he studied, but he loved reading newspapers.”
Vegetable Seller-turned-Serial Killer
After passing class 8, he decided to quit his studies and start earning. In search of a job, he moved to Delhi from his village. He then started doing a few odd jobs such as vegetable seller and plastic hawker. His initial years in Delhi were not very welcoming. He was once attacked by a goon from Delhi, who stabbed him in the chest. The local people present there did not help him, and he went to a nearby hospital alone after tying a cloth on his chest. Jha then decided to take Karate classes for self-defence. According to the sources, the local police at that time used to demand money from the poor vegetable sellers in the vegetable mandi, and the union leaders in the vegetable market used to unfairly deduct the wages of the sellers. In 1998, Chandrakant protested against the actions of the union leaders, who unfairly treated the poor sellers. Jha’s verbal fight with the union leader ‘Pandit’ (popularly known in that area) turned into a physical fight, and during the fight, Pandit got injured. Pandit took it as an insult and filed a complaint against Jha in the local police station. He even dragged Jha’s wife in the incident and filed a complaint against her. Jha and his wife were arrested and sent to jail. In the jail, a havaldar named Balbir Singh brutally tortured him and did not consider his plea. Jha was even stripped naked in the presence of other prisoners.
Chandrakant Jha’s old photo
The incident stunned Jha, and he then made a belief that violence is the only answer to injustice. This belief completely changed him, and he soon started developing an aggressive & short-tempered nature. Reportedly, after the incident, he shifted his wife and daughters to some other place, and he started living alone at JJ Colony, Haiderpur, Delhi. By that time, Jha started earning well, and he used to help the migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in getting jobs and accommodation in Delhi. He used to feed them at his home and take care of them like his children, but he closely observed them and keep a check on their activities. He used to get angry about their small things like eating non-vegetarian, smoking, drinking, and having an affair. He lost his senses over his temper and on such petty issues, he used to kill his friends. His first murder was in 1998 when he killed Mangal, alias Aurangzeb, in Adarsh Nagar. He was even arrested for the same, but due to lack of evidence, he was released in 2002. A year later, he killed his friend named Shekhar for consuming alcohol. After the murder, he threw the body somewhere in Alipur, Delhi. In November 2003, he killed another friend named Umesh. Jha assumed that Umesh was lying and betraying and for this he killed him. He threw Umesh’s torso near gate number 1 of Tihar Jail, Delhi.
Pictures of the victims killed by Chandrakant Jha
According to Jha, he wanted to challenge the Delhi Police so he did that. In November 2005, he murdered Guddu for smoking ganja and dumped his body near Sulabh Sauchalya in Mongol Puri, Northwest Delhi. In October 2006, he killed Amit (one of his associates) for being a womaniser. He threw his torso in front of Tihar Jail. In 2007, he committed two more murders of Upender (for having an affair with Jha’s daughter) and Dalip (for eating non-vegetarian food). According to media sources, he used to cut the body into several pieces and dump it in various parts of Delhi, just to confuse the Delhi Police. He even placed notes with the bodies in which he challenged the Delhi Police to catch him. One of his notes reads,
Till now I have been facing an illegitimate case, but this time I have really committed murder. You people will never be able to catch me, I am not afraid of opening the case. If you can catch me in this murder, then catch me and show me, your father and brother-in-law, CC.”
Chandrakant Jha’s note to the Delhi Police
One of the notes of Chandrakant Jha to the Delhi Police
Reportedly, he followed a ritual in murders. He used to kill his associates after 8 pm and eat at the same place where the dead body was kept with blood spilt on the floor. Chandrakant was arrested by the local police several times from 1998 to 2002, but due to the lack of evidence, he was released. After almost 6 years, post his last murder, he was arrested by the Delhi Police with relevant evidence. He was found guilty of three murders for which he was charged Rs 20,000 fine and a death sentence by the Rohini Court, Delhi. During his hearing in the court, Jha said that he had no regrets about the murders, and it was his revenge from the Delhi Police who mistreated him and punished him for the crimes, he never did. He even said that he had become a master of chopping bodies. In 2016, the Rohini Court, Delhi reduced his death sentence to life imprisonment.
Chandrakant Jha while going to the court for a hearing
During an interview, while talking to the reports, the official of the Delhi Police said,
Jha has some psychological issues which led him to such a heinous crime. Jha’s first mistake was to send a letter to the police after leaving his fourth victim’s (Amit) torso in front of Tihar last October 20. Jha had blamed former Additional Deputy Commissioner Manish Agarwal and Head Constable Balbir Singh in the letter for forcing him to take to the killing spree. In the letter, Jha also admitted to having committed a murder in November 2003 and dumping the body near Tihar. It proved that he was already out of Tihar by November 2003, so we had to look for a person who was lodged before 2003.”
They further shared how Jha was captured,
Jha made another mistake by calling up the Hari Nagar SHO immediately after dumping the body last October 20. We ensured that the SHO spoke with the killer as long as possible and got more clues. The conversation lasted for seven minutes. Our next clue was to compare the handwriting on the note found with the bodies and handwritten statements of externes. We suspected Jha was the killer but the difficult part was identifying his hideout because he changed his address every fortnight. We knew at least four hideouts: Yamuna Vihar, Alipur, Badola village and Haidarpur. Our last clue was that he drove a scooter-fitted rickshaw. We combed all four places and finally found him in Alipur while he was eating halwa with his children.”
Facts/Trivia
- Chandrakant Jha was born in a well-to-do family. His parents were employed, and they could not pay much attention to their children. Jha always felt the absence of his parents. His mother’s nature was very aggressive, and their neighbours used to have a fear of her. In childhood, Jha made a belief that aggression could make him powerful.
- In July 2022, a Netflix series ‘Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi’ was released on the heinous crime committed by Chandrakant Jha. As per the series, Jha is on parole as of 2022.
Indian Predator-The Butcher of Delhi
