Raman Raghav

Raman Raghav (1929 – 1995), also known as Psycho Raman, was an Indian serial killer from Mumbai (then Bombay) active during the mid-1960s. His real name was Sindhi Dalwai.

A series of murders occurred in the outskirts of Mumbai in August 1968. Pavement and hutment dwellers were bludgeoned to death while they slept. All the murders took place at night and were committed using a hard, blunt object. This was witnessed by one person who released this information to the Mumbai police. A similar series of murders had taken place some years earlier (1965–66) in the Eastern suburbs of Mumbai. In that year, as many as 19 people had been attacked, out of whom 9 victims had died.

At the time a suspicious looking man found loitering in the area had been picked up by the police. His name was Raman Raghav, a homeless man, and he was already in police files, having spent five years in prison for robbery. As no solid evidence could be found against him for the new crimes the police let him go. When the killer struck again in 1968 the police launched a manhunt for him. Ramakant Kulkarni, then the Deputy Commissioner of Police CID (Crime) took over the investigation and spearheaded a massive combing operation in the city. This time the police arrested him and obtained a confession.

He admitted that he had killed 23 people in 1966 along the GIP (Great Indian Peninsular Railway as the Central Railway (India) was then known) line and almost a dozen in 1968 in the suburbs. However, it is likely that he killed many more. There was widespread public anxiety and panic in Mumbai. Inhabitants of slums and apartments dreaded sleeping out in the open or with open windows and balconies.

Sub-inspector of police Alex Fialho recognized Raghav from file photographs and descriptions provided by those who had seen him. Fialho detained and searched him in the presence of two respectable witnesses from the area. He gave his name as Raman Raghav, but old records disclosed that he had several aliases including "Sindhi Dalwai", "Talwai", "Anna", "Thambi", and "Veluswami". The suspect had, in his possession, a pair of spectacles, two combs, a pair of scissors, a stand for burning incense, soap, garlic, tea dust and two pieces of paper with some mathematical figures. The bush shirt and khaki shorts which he was wearing had bloodstains and his shoes were full of mud. His fingerprints with those on record confirmed that he was Raman Raghav alias Sindhi Dalwai. He was arrested under section 302 Indian Penal Code on charge of the murder of two persons; Lalchand Jagannat Yadav and Dular Jaggi Yadav at Chinchawli village, Malad, Greater Bombay.

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