In 2007, India earned a world record for having the Youngest Serial Killer. It was never a record to be proud of. Unlike other serial killers, Amarjeet Sada was only seven years old when he committed three brutal murders.
THE KILLER’S EARLY DAYS
Amarjeet's poor parents were happy when they were blessed with a son. They thought he would live a positive life and spread the light of love and joy wherever he went. Instead, he had the opposite effect on the people. He extinguished the light from their lives!
"I want new toys," he once asked his mother Parul. His mother hugged him and replied, "Beta, we are poor. We cannot afford new toys." Amarjeet pushed his mother away and sulked. He was a very temperamental boy, often throwing tantrums and being short-tempered. As he was the only son, his mother doted on him. Every day she would put a big fat dot of black kajal on the side of his forehead saying "Kisika nazar naa lagay tujhay!"
She wanted to protect him from the evils and brought an amulet to wear from the Hanuman temple.
"This will protect you from the evils of the world. A gift from Lord Hanuman himself for you!" she said as she tied the amulet / taweez around his upper arm. Amarjeet smiled as he looked at his new present.
Little did she know that the people would need amulets to protect themselves from this young boy.
THE BIRTH OF A MONSTER
"Why don’t you come and play with us?" Raju asked Amarjeet while he was sitting on the steps of his mud hut.
"I don’t want to," Amarjeet said softly to a neighbourhood boy.
"Why have you stopped playing with us? Are we, not your friends?" Shankar, another boy, spoke up.
"Let’s go for a swim in the pond," Raju tried again to get his friend to come with them.
"Nooo," Amarjeet shouted, scaring his two friends away. They had never seen Amarjeet so angry and ran away from there.
Soon his parents also noticed that Amarjeet had become quiet, seated in one place and staring at nothing. He spoke less, and he preferred being alone.
THE FIRST MURDER
Amarjeet was seven years old when his aunt Meena came to visit them.
"I have a favour to ask of you sister," Meena pleaded to her sister Parul.
"What is it?" Parul asked.
"My husband and I am moving to the city and will be away for a month. Can you please keep my 6-month-old son with you?" Meena asked.
"For a whole month?" Parul exclaimed.
"I have found work as a domestic help in Patna, and I will be busy there. I need someone to look after my son?" Meena said.
Parul told her sister she could not feed more mouths due to financial struggles. Meena promised to send a portion of her first salary to her sister for the child's needs. Eventually, Parul had no choice but to take custody of the child.
Everything seemed to be going fine until the day she had to go to the bazaar and leave the child in the custody of Amarjeet.
As soon as his mother left, Amarjeet started pinching the child and enjoyed inflicting pain on his little brother. The child woke up from his sleep and started crying. The scream grew louder after Amarjeet pulled his ears. Amarjeet could not tolerate the sound of the crying and choked the child to death.
And this was the first murder by Amarjeet – at the age of 7!
When his mother returned from the bazaar and asked him where the child was, Amarjeet smiled, took her to the paddy field and showed her where he had buried the child.
"I smashed his head with a brick," Amarjeet proudly announced to his father, Balaram, when he returned from work. Balaram slapped him and struggled to believe what a monster his son had turned out to be!
Parul could not imagine or understand how could a 7-year-old child kill an innocent baby and remain so calm.
When Meena returned a month later, she was shocked and devastated to hear about the death of her child.
"It was an accident," Parul lied to save his son. Balaram pleaded with Meena not to register any police complaint. Amarjeet peeped from behind the door and enjoyed watching the drama playing out silently.
On many occasions, we observe our own children committing some prank or doing something wrong. Many parents rightly scold them, while others ignore it, which is a huge mistake. The child receives the message that it is okay to do bad things. There is a possibility that such petty crimes will grow over the years and turn into much bigger offences. In this case, Amarjeet’s parents tried to bury the crime he committed, an action that taught Amardeep that he could get away with killing.
THE SECOND MURDER
A year later, Parul gave birth to a girl child. Amarjeet struggled to understand his relationship with the little girl while the whole family enjoyed the sight of a new member of the family. 8-year-old Amarjeet would sit and stare at the newborn child for hours.
Eventually, his lack of connection with his sister resulted in him committing the second murder. One afternoon, Parul went for a short nap and instructed Amarjeet to look after his sister. However, she realised that she had made a horrible mistake by letting the child alone with Amarjeeth when she woke up and saw the evil grin on the face of her son. She screamed her lungs out after finding the lifeless body of her child.
When his parents thrashed him and asked why he killed her, Amarjeet only uttered three words, "Just like that," and smiled like the devil.
Even after committing such brutal crimes, his parents failed to heed their neighbour's advice to take him to a police station. Everybody was left stunned when Amarjeet asked "What wrong have I done in killing her?"
Amarjeet felt no remorse or guilt and enjoyed the pleasure of committing the crime.
THE DEMON STRIKES AGAIN
Everyone in the village looked at Amarjeet Sada with fear and avoided speaking with his parents too. But Amarjeet continued to live oblivious to the other's reaction towards him. Before long, Amarjeet committed his third murder.
He was walking by the village Primary School when he heard the voice of an infant coming from inside. The gurgling sound of the child echoed in the empty classroom. Amarjeet peeped in and saw a child swaddled in some sheets.
Chunchun Devi came back from the market to see her 8-month-old daughter missing. She left her daughter Khushboo in the school as it was the safest place. Chunchun immediately knew that Amarjeet was behind the disappearance of her daughter.
"Where is my daughter?" Chunchun Devi confronted Amarjeet Sada with tears rolling down her cheeks. Amarjeet showed no remorse or emotions when he calmly and proudly told her that he killed her daughter.
Eventually, the villagers took Amarjeet and handed him over to the police.
Psychiatrists evaluated Amarjeet and found that he was suffering from a conduct disorder. They concluded that due to a severe chemical imbalance in his brain, he received gratification from inflicting injuries on others. He also had no sense of right or wrong. The police reasoned that he targeted babies since they were smaller than him, and of course, they could not retaliate.
Amarjeet Sada was charged with murder and detained at a children's home until he turned 18. The brutalities committed by an 8-year-old shocked the nation and grabbed headlines across the globe.
As per some reports, the 26-year-old has now changed his name to Samarjit. He is probably roaming the streets of India as you read this.
Watch out – you may bump into him!
You can read the detailed story about Amardeep Sada in The Deadly Dozen: India’s Most Notorious Serial Killers (Penguin)
Anirban Bhattacharyya is the Creator and Producer of Savdhaan India, and is the bestselling author of India’s Money Heist: The Chelembra Bank Robbery which he co-wrote with IG P Vijayan (Kerala Police).
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