The Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders were ten murders committed by Rajendra Jakkal, Dilip Sutar, Shantaram Kanhoji Jagtap and Munawar Harun Shah of

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

, India, between January 1976 and March 1977. All the murderers were

commercial art Commercial art is the art of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art uses a variety of platforms (magazines, websites, apps, television, etc.) for viewers with the intent of promo ...

students at the Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya, Tilak Road, and were hanged for their crimes on 27 November 1983. The group had acquired a poor reputation on their college campus for robbery and drinking.

Timeline

16 January 1976 – Prakash Hegde

Prakash was a classmate of the killers at Abhinav. His father, Sundar Hegde, ran a small restaurant (Vishwa) behind Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya. The group hatched a plot to

kidnap Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

Prakash for

ransom Ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release. It also refers to the sum of money paid by the other party to secure a captive's freedom. When ransom means "payment", the word ...

. On 15 January 1976, the foursome and classmate Suhas Chandak picked up Prakash under false pretence and took him to Jakkal's tin shed on Karve Road. They forced him to write a note to his father saying that he was leaving home. On the night of 16 January 1976, they gagged him, and took him to Peshwe Park, which is just meters from Hotel Vishwa. There they strangled him with a nylon rope, placed his body in an iron barrel, inserted some stones and dumped the barrel into the Park lake. The next day, they sent a ransom note to his father.

August 1976 – Kolhapur

The gang moved to the city of

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kolhapur is one of the most significant cities in South Maharashtra and has been a hub of historical, religious, and cultural a ...

in August 1976, but were unsuccessful when they targeted the house of a local businessman.

31 October 1976 – Joshi

Achyut Joshi, from Vijaynagar colony, was attacked on the night of 31 October. The group, brandishing knives, forced their way into his house. Joshi and his wife Usha were the only ones at home. After tying the couple's hands and legs, the four strangled Joshi with nylon rope and suffocated his wife. When the Joshis' teenage son, Anand, arrived home, they stripped him naked and strangled him with nylon rope. The gang then stole several items, including a

mangalsutra A mangala sutra (), or tali (ISO: ''tāḷi''), is a necklace worn by married Hindu women. During a Hindu wedding, the mangalasutra is tied around the neck of the bride by the groom. The ceremony is known as the . ''Mangalasutra'' literally ...

, a watch and several thousand

rupees Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Afr ...

22 November 1976 – Bafana

Yashomati Bafana's

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

on Shankarseth Road was attacked on the evening of 22 November. However, Bafana and her two servants fought back and the assailants escaped by climbing a barbed-wire fence around the perimeter.

1 December 1976 – Abhyankar

On 1 December 1976 at around 8 pm, the group attacked the Smriti bungalow on Bhandarkar Road belonging to the Abhyankars. There were five people in the house: noted

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

scholar Kashinath Shastri Abhyankar (age 88); his wife Indirabai (age 76); their maid Sakubai Wagh (age 60), granddaughter Jui (age 20) and grandson Dhananjay (age 19). The four gained entrance by ringing the doorbell. When Dhananjay opened the door they stuffed his mouth with a ball of cloth, tied his hands and told him to direct them inside the house. The men killed each person by stuffing their mouths with a ball of cloth, tying their hands and legs and then strangling them with a

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rope. The granddaughter, Jui, was stripped naked and forced to direct them to the valuables in the house before she was killed.

23 March 1977 – Anil Gokhale

Anil Gokhale was the younger brother of a college friend, Jayant Gokhale. On the evening of 23 March 1977, Anil was supposed to meet his brother at the Alka Talkies and was offered a ride home by Jakkal on his

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

. He was taken to Jakkal's shed and strangled with a nylon rope. His body was tied to an iron ladder, weighed down with boulders and dumped into the

Mula-Mutha River The Mula-Mutha is a river in India, formed by the confluence of the Mula and Mutha rivers in the city of Pune, Maharashtra state, which later flows into the Bhima River, which itself is a tributary of the Krishna River and finally empties int ...

near Bund Garden.

Investigation

Assistant Commissioner of Police Madhusudan Hulyalkar led the investigation. On the evening of 24 March 1977, the body of Anil Gokhale surfaced near

Yerwada Yerawada is a neighbourhood of the city of Pune in the state of Maharashtra, India. Before that British Raj Yerawada was known as ''Yeraoda.'' Yerawada is one of the most densely populated areas in Pune. It is located at the beginning of Ahmedn ...

. The police team, led by

Police Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...

Manikrao Damame, noticed that the

ropes used to tie the body to the ladder were fastened in a manner identical to earlier murders. The police had initially thought the murders were a result of botched robberies but were soon faced with the fact that they were following a group of serial killers. Cases like these were rare at that time in India, and the police began an intensive investigation to prevent additional deaths. When questioned by police, the four men contradicted each other about their movements in the city over the previous week. Satish Gore (a colleague) cracked under questioning, leaking information about Prakash Hegde's murder and the location of his body. The signatures of strangulation with nylon rope and a specific knot also helped police zero in on the culprits. Further confessions were made by another classmate, Suhas Chandak, who was a witness to the Hegde killing. The killers were apprehended on 30 March 1977.

Court case

Shamrao G. Samant, a senior criminal lawyer who had conducted many successful prosecutions for the state government, was appointed special public prosecutor for the trial. The case began on 15 May 1978 in Pune district and lasted more than four months. On 28 September 1978, they were sentenced to death by Pune Sessions Court Judge Waman Narayan Bapat. Their sentences were confirmed by the

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

High Court on 6 April 1979, and their special leave petitions against their convictions and sentences were dismissed by the Supreme Court on 17 November 1980.

Appeal and execution

After both the High Court and

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

turned down their appeals, the accused approached the

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

for a

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

. The pardon was not granted, and the four were hanged at

Yerwada Central Jail Yerwada Central Jail is a noted high-security prison in Yerwada, Pune in Maharashtra. This is the largest prison in the state of Maharashtra, and also one of the largest prisons in South Asia, housing over 5,000 prisoners (2017) spread over va ...

on 27 November 1983.

In popular culture

The serial murders have had a lasting impact on popular culture in India, spanning several decades. Some of the more notable pieces to stem from these events are: * ''Yes, I Am Guilty'' (1983) - A

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

book written by Munawar Shah, one of the murderers. He was the youngest of the four members to commit the violent crimes, and wrote this autobiography while imprisoned. * '' Maaficha Sakshidar'' (1986) - A

film starring

Nana Patekar Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, film maker, mainly working in Hindi language, Hindi and Marathi language, Marathi cinema. Widely regarded as one of the finest and most influential actors ...

and

Mohan Gokhale Mohan Gokhale (7 November 1953 – 29 April 1999) was an Indian film, television and theater actor who has worked in art films such as '' Sparsh'', '' Bhavni Bhavai'' and '' Mirch Masala''. His father was a senior journalist and Editor of the w ...

. The film was based on the execution of the four students who were convicted of ten murders. Patekar played Rajendra Jakkal, in one of his earliest film roles. * ''

Paanch ''Paanch'' () is a 2003 Indian crime thriller film written and directed by Anurag Kashyap in his directing debut, starring Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Srivastava, Vijay Maurya, Joy Fernandes, and Tejaswini Kolhapure. The film is loosely based on th ...

'' (2003) - A film directed by

Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to films, the Government of France made him a Knight of the Ordre ...

. Kashyap's film is "loosely" based on the serial murders, and was never given a theatrical or home-video release. The

Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory Motion picture content rating system, film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of ...

objected to the film's violence, its depiction of drug abuse, and profanity. However, the film was later screened at several film festivals. * ''November 27'' (2020) - A play by actor-writer

Naren Weiss Naren Weiss (born March 15, 1991) is an actor, playwright, and former model. He played Osama bin Laden in Kamal Haasan's film on terrorism '' Vishwaroopam'', Dekker in the ABC series ''Deception'', and is known for his work in theatre in Indi ...

. The play was later published in ''Deepak and Raj: Two Indian Plays'', which went on to reach #1 on

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

's playwriting list for 2020. In addition to these books and films, the Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders have also been featured in episodes of true crime TV series such as ''

Savdhaan India ''Savdhaan India – India Fights Back'' ( ''Attention India! – India Fights Back'') is an Indian Hindi-language crime currently broadcasting on Star Bharat. It was created by Ajit Thakur. The series is hosted by Ashutosh Rana, Tisca Chopra, ...

'' (2012) and '' Crime Patrol'' (2015).