Mallika

Background

Mallika, also known by several aliases including Lakshmi, Jayamma, Savithramma, Shivamogga Kempamma, Kempamma, Yashodama, K D Kempamma, K D Kempanna, and K D Kempamma alias Cyanide Mallika, was described as a woman serial killer who poisoned women and then took their valuables.

The case involved allegations that Mallika murdered women for gain and that the murders involved cyanide poisoning. Police described Mallika as a habitual thief who started killing for valuables, and said she worked as a domestic help at several places on the outskirts of Bangalore. She told the authorities she acted alone.

The offence

Mallika poisoned six women to death in the past decade and was also described as having poisoned six women to death across the city until her arrest in 2007. She used to loiter around temples and pick up her victims from among female devotees.

Mallika’s alleged modus operandi involved posing as a pious lady and being well acquainted with religious rituals. She befriended women devotees, including women from rich family backgrounds who were frequenting the temples, and gained their confidence by recommending rituals to overcome their bad times. She allegedly told victims that a particular ritual should be done by her at a temple, choosing a venue far from the victim’s place.

Mallika allegedly mixed cyanide in the victims’ food and decamped with their valuables. In accounts of the method, she was described as giving victims water laced with cyanide. Another account described her as grasping the victim by the hair, pulling her head back, and quickly thrusting cyanide into the victim’s mouth, with the victim dying within 5 minutes, after which Mallika left with any valuables that were available.

Mallika was sentenced to death for the murder of an elderly woman, and a separate conviction involved the murder of a housewife, Nagaveni, in Doddaballapur. The victim Nagaveni was childless, and Mallika was said to have lured her with a promise of pujas for fertility.

In some descriptions, Mallika was described as targeting women who looked vulnerable at temple complexes around Bangalore, befriending them and then killing and robbing them. In some cases she killed her victims while they were asleep or praying.

Investigation

Mallika was arrested by Bangalore city police on December 31, 2007 on a tip off. She revealed details of the murders she had committed during questioning.

Out of the five murders described as including one committed in Tamil Nadu, four were registered as mysterious. Police described Mallika as having access to a small stash of cyanide which she had obtained while working as a help for a goldsmith.

Police also described Mallika as being wanted in at least six cases in various districts including Bangalore Rural, Ramanagara, Tumkur and Mandya. City police commissioner Neelam Achyut Rao described her as having been wanted in multiple cases and described her as a first woman serial killer in the country.

A separate account described that Chintamani police had found a woman’s body at the Kaiwara Yogi Narayan Ashram guest house in Kolar, and that the case was closed as there were no leads until police informed city counterparts after seeing Renuka’s photograph in recent media reports.

Arrest

Mallika was arrested in December 2007 in the course of investigations into the murder of a childless woman, Nagaveni, who was found to have been lured with the promise of pujas for fertility and later killed by cyanide poisoning.

Another account described that Kalasipalya police caught Mallika (43) and that she was allegedly trying to dispose of the jewellery of the victims. Upon interrogation, she admitted to the crime. A further account described that she was arrested when she was trying to sell her victims’ possessions.

Trial

The Karnataka High Court reduced the death sentence awarded by a fast track court to life imprisonment on criminal appeal filed by Mallika.

Justice DV Shylendra Kumar headed the division bench that modified the order. The High Court noted that while there was circumstantial evidence, there was no direct proof against her and that although she had committed murders for gain, it did not come under the category of “rarest of rare cases to be accorded death sentence”. The court also imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 on Mallika and, in case of default, ordered rigorous imprisonment for one year.

A different trial court proceeding included the 1st Additional Rural Court, Bangalore, awarding the death sentence. The death sentence was awarded for the murder of Nagaveni in Doddaballapur on December 18, 2007. Nagaveni was found dead in the premises of a temple in Doddaballapur. She was a resident of Allalasandra, near Yelahanka New Town.

During the trial for the Nagaveni murder, Mallika was described as having managed to befriend Nagaveni and to take her to a temple in Doddaballapur in the early hours of that day. Mallika was said to have given Nagaveni water laced with cyanide under the guise of giving her holy water. Nagaveni drank it and died instantly, after which Mallika removed the victim’s gold ornaments and escaped.

The case was described as being the last of her murders carried out on December 15, 2007, and also described as “her second case” in which she was found guilty and convicted.

A Tumkur court had awarded the death sentence in 2010 for the murder of Muniyamma in Yediyur Siddalingeshwara temple in Kunigal taluk.

Police ruled out any psychopathic tendencies on her part and attributed the murders to robbery.

Sentencing

On March 31, 2012, the 1st Additional Rural Court, Bangalore, awarded the death sentence to Mallika alias Cyanide Malllika alias K D Kempamma alias Yashodama, 45, for the murder of Nagaveni.

On April 1, 2012, Mallika was sentenced to death for the last of her murders, carried out on December 15, 2007, as described in one account.

The Karnataka High Court reduced the death sentence to life imprisonment on August 2, 2012. The High Court also imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 on Mallika and ordered rigorous imprisonment for one year in case of default.

Appeals

Mallika filed a criminal appeal challenging the order awarded by the court at Tumkur on March 24, 2009. The division bench headed by Justice DV Shylendra Kumar reduced the death sentence on appeal.

Outcome

Mallika’s death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment on August 2, 2012.

Other details

Mallika had several aliases such as Lakshmi, Jayamma, Savithramma, Shivamogga Kempamma, Kempamma, Yashodama, and K D Kempamma, and was described as known as “Cyanide Mallika”. Mallika was also described as the country’s first and only woman serial killer, and was described as being abandoned by her husband in 1998 when she incurred huge losses and was thrown out of her house.

One account described that Mallika’s first murder was on Oct 19, 1999 in Hoskote when she killed Mamatha Rajan (30) while she was praying. It described her latest victim as a 30-year-old woman who had no male child, and described her killing while the victim was sleeping.

Another account described that she made the first killing in 1999 and that her first victim was Mamatha of Hoskote. It also described that she had been driven out of her house by her husband and children for involving herself in a cheating case being jailed once before. In that account, her husband was described as a tailor by profession, and she was described as having two daughters and a son: one daughter held a diploma in fashion designing, another daughter was an M.A. student, and her son was a car driver.

One account described Shankar filing a complaint at Mico Layout police station on December 29, 2006 that his wife Renuka (23) was missing since December 7, 2006. It described that Chintamani police registered a case after they found a woman’s body at the Kaiwara Yogi Narayan Ashram guest house, Kolar, and that the guest house authorities recognized Kempamma, who was registered there as Jayamma, after seeing Renuka’s photograph in recent media reports.

The arrest narratives described that Mallika was arrested by Kalasipalyam police when she was trying to dispose of the jewellery of the victims and that police expected to recover more robbed jewellery after the investigation. City police commissioner N Achuta Rao was quoted saying:

"She had single handedly murdered six women by using cyanide and decamped with their jewellery and valuables."

West DCP K V Sharat Chandra said:

"We are collecting details of murders that took place in temple premises during the last few years. We are asking medical experts if they have come across any case of cyanide poisoning. Efforts are on to trace those who supplied the deadly drug to the killer,"