On a September morning in 1973, a Gurdwara in a village near Sadul Sahar, Rajasthan, became a site of shocking discovery. A man named Shyam Singh, arriving as usual at 7 a.m. for his morning chores of sweeping and lighting incense, stumbled upon a scene of horror. There, inside the prayer hall, lay three figures. Mada Singh, one of them, was groaning in pain on a cot, while the lifeless body of Kartar Singh, son of Hari Singh, lay nearby with head injuries.

Shocked and alarmed, Shyam Singh hurried back to the village and informed others of the same. Together, they returned swiftly to the Gurdwara, only to find further devastation. The rooms showed signs of forced entry, with locks broken and belongings strewn about. Amidst the chaos, Mada Singh and Wazir Singh were found wounded and in need of immediate assistance.

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A First Information Report was filed at Police Station Sadul Sahar around 7:30 a.m. The authorities swiftly responded to the distress call. Among the scattered items were a blood-stained Kassi (hoe) and a small tin box which bore fingerprints, which proved to be crucial evidence in the case. 

In the early 1970s, a wave of heinous crimes swept through Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab, leaving a trail of murders and attempted murders. Ganganagar District alone saw fifteen such cases between February 1973 and May 1974. The local police, under the leadership of Shyam Pratap Singh Rathore, District Superintendent, sprang into action. Among the suspects was a young man named Kampatimar Shankaria, who had mysteriously disappeared from his village in Karanpur, Ganganagar, following the murders. 

Shankaria: A Serial Killer

Born in 1952 in Jaipur, Shankaria's name evokes chilling memories of a dark chapter in India's criminal history. However, there is only a limited amount of information available about his past and how he became a cold-blooded murderer.  According to reports from the time, between 1977 and 1978, he was allegedly linked with the murder of at least 70 people.

Shankaria's modus operandi was as gruesome as it was calculated. Armed with a hammer, he struck his victims below the neck in a manner that earned him the chilling moniker, Kampatimar (one who hits under the ear). No one knew what he did until 1973. That's when people across Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana were found dead with broken necks.

Shankaria’s downfall was sealed by the double murder of Kartar Singh and Mada Singh. For these crimes, he was sentenced to death by the Sessions Judge in Ganganagar, a verdict subsequently upheld by higher courts. Although there were no eyewitnesses, the police were able to solve the case through a confession from Shankaria himself.

His reign of terror came to an end when law enforcement apprehended him. Upon capture, rather than expressing remorse, Shankaria disturbingly revealed that he took grim satisfaction in his crimes, admitting that he found pleasure in murders. 

The arrest, trial and sentence

On June 3, 1974, after an intensive investigation, the police apprehended Shankaria. Operating under the alias Rattan Lal, Shankaria was found in possession of a rickshaw driving license and valuable items. Following his arrest, he was taken back to Ganganagar and placed in police custody.

The crucial evidence in the form of a small tin box (Dibbi) and locks, along with the accused's fingerprints, was dispatched to the Rajasthan Finger-Print Bureau in Jaipur for examination. The examiner identified two chance prints on the Dibbi, determining that one matched the left middle fingerprint of Shankaria.

During the trial, Shankaria contested the prosecution's claims, retracting his earlier confession and alleging coercion by the police. He also claimed that evidence like footprints had been fabricated. However, the Sessions Judge ruled that Shankaria's confession was voluntary and truthful. The judge also noted that medical and circumstantial evidence corroborated the confession, solidifying the case against him.

The Supreme Court, after reviewing the appeal against the death penalty, noted that the crimes were committed in an exceptionally brutal and callous manner. "The crimes were committed in a most brutal and dastardly fashion. The victims were taken unawares when they were asleep. Two of them were blind persons. His Neronian conduct even after the occurrence of languishing in the stricken premises, looking for something to eat in the kitchen, drinking water, smoking Bidis, bringing water and bathing himself, mindless of the spectre of the slain and the groans and gasps of the dying, betrays an extreme depravity of character. The grisly and gruesome nature of the murders, the hapless and helpless state of the victims, and the fiendish modus operandi of the appellant to first kill and then steal the heart of law to call for its extreme penalty. For all the foregoing reasons, we dismiss this appeal, affirm the judgment of the High Court and maintain the conviction of the appellant and the sentence of death awarded to him for the murders of Kartar Singh and Mada Singh."

He was hanged on May 16, 1979. Shankariya was only 27 years old at that time. While he was in jail, he realized his mistake. He had said, "I have committed murders without any reason; no one should become like me."