25 Years Later: Court Gives Life Sentence to Notorious Skull Soup Cannibal

Lucknow (The Uttam Hindu): Lucknow's ADJ court has sentenced dreaded serial killer Ram Niranjan alias Raja Kolandar to life imprisonment. In this case, his partner Vaksharaj Kol has also been sentenced to life imprisonment. Both have been found guilty in a double murder case that took place in the year 2000.

More than 20 murder cases were registered against Raja Kolandar, although he has been acquitted in most of the cases due to lack of evidence. When Raja Kolandar was arrested, a large number of skeletons and skulls were recovered from his Pigri farm house in Prayagraj. Kolandar was accused of being a Tantrik and making soup from skulls and drinking it. It is said that he used to kill people, then cut their bodies into pieces and throw them separately, but took the head of the corpse with him. After this, he used to take out the brain and make soup and drink it.Earlier, Judge Rohit Singh's court on Monday found Raja Kolandar and Vaksharaj Kol guilty of kidnapping and murdering 22-year-old Manoj Kumar Singh and his driver Ravi Srivastava in the Naka area. The court sentenced both of them on Friday.

According to public prosecutor MK Singh, the court convicted Raja Kalandar and his accomplice under sections 364 (kidnapping with intent to murder), 396 (robbery with murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 412 (dishonestly receiving property obtained by robbery) and 404 (misappropriation of property of deceased person) of the IPC.

Raja Kalandar's childhood name was Ram Niranjan Kol. He was notorious for his heinous crimes and alleged cannibalism. He was once employed in an ordnance factory in Uttar Pradesh. He considered himself a king who could punish anyone he disliked.Kalandar was convicted of several murders, including that of journalist Dhirendra Singh. Police had recovered human skulls from his farmhouse, leading to gruesome allegations of cannibalism. Psychiatrists had described him as a psychopath, though courts had declared him mentally fit to face trial. In 2012, Raja Kalandar and his brother-in-law Vaksharaj were convicted for the brutal murder of journalist Dhirendra Singh in November 2012. The victim was lured, shot dead and the body was mutilated and buried.