The Stoneman Serial Murders

The Stoneman Serial Murders- From 1985 to 1989 a crazed Psychopath roamed the dimly lit streets of Mumbai & Kolkata, brutally smashing the heads of his victims with a heavy Rock. But was this the work of a single man or just a series of copycat murders?

We ruminate in this episode on India's most infamous uncaught Serial Killings by “The Stoneman”. Thank you to Kaitee for joining me in this episode!

Bollywood Corner!

The Stoneman Murders

Full Story:

Serial Murders in Mumbai

In 1985, Mumbai known as India's Maximum city was chugging away. She's a bustling, overcrowded Metro with promises of endless opportunities and dreams to entice the young, the restless and the impoverished masses from the country.

A quarter of Mumbai's 18 Million population lives under harsh conditions in slum settlements with no running water or bathrooms. Another quarter of the population actually live right on the streets of Mumbai. 

Vagrants, rag pickers, day laborers, cooks and wait staff in small street side restaurants and many other such low wage workers make up a large part of the homeless population who call it a night sleeping on the pavements, under bridges, overpasses and Road Dividers.

Newcomers and those at the bottom of the rung sleep aloof, by themselves leaving them vulnerable to the dangers that lurk in the dark.

In the Summer of 1985 started a series of brutal and horrific murders on the streets of Sion & King's Circle that rocked the city to it's core.

Every few months the city would wake up to the gruesome sight of a dead body with the head smashed completely by a heavy rock or slab of concrete usually left close by – a silent, unwilling witness to this horror.

The Police would document the case and move on with their day. 
They couldn't trace the identities of the victims as they were Homeless and nobody would show up to officially claim the bodies. They got no help from the people in the area as they were understandably super wary of dealing with the police. 

The MO of this StoneMan Killer was to find a victim who was sleeping alone in a more isolated spot away from the rest of the groups on the street and then quickly bash their Head in with a very heavy Rock, typically weighing 50-60 lbs.
Based on the weight of the Rock alone the Police assumed that they were looking for a Tall and well-built man capable of lifting the damn thing.

The murders continued on one by one till late 1987 so in a span of 2 years the victim count reached 12.

Apart from these 12 Victims, there was one very lucky survivor who escaped by the skin of his teeth. He woke up to the terrifying image of the StoneMan with his arms raised ready to bring down the Heavy Rock on his head. The survivor did sustain some injuries and started to scream which scared the killer away back into the shadows. He couldn’t make out any identifiable features of the StoneMan.

It was only after the first 6 murders did the insipid Police suspect that these were all the work of a single person – A Serial Killer who would in the future be referred to as the StoneMan Killer.

I suspect the socio-economic status of these victims may have played a role in the lack of a more thorough investigation and follow through by the Police Departments. 

The people of Mumbai were gripped by these murders. Families feared going out at night and dreaded reading the newspapers. The ones who slept out in the open started to sleep in bigger groups for safety.

Off the record, there were rumors that the number of victims was actually 25 but the official number was kept low to try & salvage some of the reputation of the Mumbai Police.
After some hue & cry from the public the cops rounded up some of the usual suspects from those areas in Sion & King's Circle – informants, drug peddlers, petty criminals and the likes in an effort to squeeze out at least something of use to the case but they got nothing.

What they did get though was a Lull in the killings. By mid 1988 the murders stopped completely much to the relief of the people and the Mumbai Police who hadn't been able to find a single clue after 12 murders & 1 unfortunate surviving witness.

Mumbai had finally freed itself from the clutches of the alleged psychopathic StoneMan.

Serial Murders in Kolkata:

Starting sometime in **June 1989** similar killings of Homeless inhabitants of West Bengal's capital city Kolkata  began to occur, in the vicinity of the Howrah Bridge.

The first officially reported murder occurred in June of 1989. The victim was a woman this time, a seller of illicit moonshine. The 2nd victim, a Beggar, was found almost exactly a month later.
By the time the 3rd victim was found the Kolkata Police linked the crimes and was now convinced it was all the work of a single crazed psychopath who they now named as the StoneMan Killer.

It appears that the cops in Kolkata really did try their best to solve the case and deployed hundreds of constables all over the city to patrol the dark lanes of the city during the early hours of 03-05:00 am when the killer operated.

The pressure from the public of the city was immense and there emerged departmental politics between 2 Police officials in the form of a race to catch the StoneMan.

Chief of Police Prasun Mukherjee and Deputy Commissioner Rachchpal Singh had opposing theories about the killer and how to catch him. DCP Singh had created a detailed profile of the killer.
He theorized that the killer was methodical, highly intelligent, well built, taller than average & able to blend into the crowd at a moment's notice. The killer was propelled to kill by his deep-seated hatred for the beggars and mentally ill dwellers on the streets.

While Mr.Mukherjee supposed that some form of Tantric black magic rituals involving human sacrifice may be the driving force behind these brutal slayings. The murders had all occurred on either a Saturday or Tuesday night which were sacred days for the Goddess Kali who is often worshiped by Tantric Followers as a powerful slayer of Demons & bringer of Justice.

Despite the show of force by all the Midnight patrolling and rounding up of petty criminals every week, the Serial Killer was never caught and with the last victim discovered in Sep 1989, the StoneMan vanished into the Night taking with him the secrets of 12 more murders in Kolkata.

This brought the count of potentially linked murder victims in both cities to 24, with the real number possibly being around 35.

Ram Das a railway porter in Kolkata is quoted in The Orlando Sentinel as saying these solemn words-
"Why are the gods so angry with us? We are so poor, and have nothing to eat. My baby has a fever, and we have no place to go. Now there is this madman trying to kill us. What have we done to deserve this?"

Since the Murder Weapon was untraceable and easily found, could it have been an easy MO for anyone to have copied to carry out their own murderous agendas? 
Was it just the one Killer in both cities..? A Copycat?
What do you think?

References:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-09-vw-166-story.html

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1989-10-15-8910153512-story.html

https://openthemagazine.com/features/india/the-stoneman-returns/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RXDFd0LFTw&ab_channel=CrimeTak