In a major breakthrough after decades of delay, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Lucknow finally sentenced Raja Kolander, also known as Ram Niranjan Kol, to life imprisonment in May 2025.

The conviction was tied to a double murder committed 25 years earlier, marking a grim chapter in India's criminal history. Kolander, once employed at the Central Ordnance Depot, later turned into a chilling figure known for collecting human skulls and allegedly consuming the flesh and brains of his victims.

This was Kolander’s second life sentence. He was already serving time for another brutal murder, and according to investigators, he is believed to be connected to at least 14 killings spanning several years. The horror of his crimes, their delayed resolution, and the disturbing details around each act form one of the darkest episodes in the country’s law enforcement archives.

The Disappearance That Sparked a Nightmare (2000)

The sinister saga first came into light on January 24, 2000, when 22-year-old businessman Manoj Kumar Singh left Lucknow in his Tata Sumo SUV, headed toward Rewa in Madhya Pradesh. Accompanying him was his driver, Ravi Srivastava. During their journey, the two unknowingly picked up a group of passengers from Charbagh railway station in Lucknow. Among them was Phoolan Devi, wife of Raja Kolander, and several of his accomplices.

This seemingly harmless detour was a planned trap orchestrated by Kolander. The group briefly stopped at Manoj’s family home in Rae Bareli. That night would be the last time Manoj and his driver were ever seen alive. When neither of them returned nor made contact, Manoj’s family filed a missing persons report three days later.

A frantic search was launched. It wasn’t long before the horrifying discovery of their naked, dismembered bodies in the forests of Shankargarh in Prayagraj district confirmed their worst fears. The condition of the remains revealed that both men had been brutally murdered, their bodies cut apart before being dumped in the forest.

At first, the police were left without strong leads. But a pivotal clue changed everything. While searching Kolander’s property, officers came across a brown overcoat. Manoj’s family confirmed it belonged to him—it even bore a label from a Rae Bareli tailor, further connecting it to the victim.

This coat “spoke the loudest in court”, according to one investigator, becoming a silent but powerful witness in the case.

Even with this damning piece of evidence, and despite filing a First Information Report (FIR), the case slowed down. “The case made little progress over the next decade,” even after the CBI formally filed a chargesheet in March 2001. The delay in justice added years of agony for the victims’ families, even as Kolander remained a free man.

A Second Murder Unveils the Real Horror (2000–2001)

As the double murder probe dragged on, another case brought Kolander back into the spotlight—and this time, it revealed the full scope of his twisted acts. In late 2000, journalist Dhirendra Singh went missing from Allahabad (now Prayagraj). Weeks later, police recovered his decapitated and mutilated body from a forested region near the Uttar Pradesh–Madhya Pradesh border.

His severed head was never found, despite an exhaustive search. The chilling nature of the killing alarmed investigators. Their search for answers led them to trace calls made from Dhirendra's missing mobile phone. To their shock, the number had dialed the landline registered to Raja Kolander and his wife Phoolan Devi during the time of the journalist’s disappearance.

This led to Kolander being brought in for questioning. During the interrogation, he gave an unexpected response. He confessed to killing Dhirendra Singh, though what came next was even more disturbing.

Based on his statement and further leads, authorities raided Kolander’s farmhouse in Naini, Prayagraj, in early 2001. There, they found what can only be described as the remains of a real-life horror story: 14 human skulls were buried across the property, each one carefully preserved and marked. Nearby were other bones and belongings of the victims, as well as the stolen Tata Sumo that had once belonged to Manoj Kumar Singh. The vehicle had been repainted and renamed “Phoolan Devi,” in a disturbing tribute to Kolander’s wife.

But the most damning item recovered was Kolander’s personal diary. Inside were chilling details of his crimes. The diary contained references or nicknames for 14 victims, and most horrifyingly, Dhirendra Singh was allegedly recorded as “Dheere Dheere Lal Lal”—a cryptic code believed to signify his position as the 14th victim.

A Serial Killer’s Rituals and His Obsession With Intelligence

As police pieced together the puzzle, a disturbing pattern began to emerge. Kolander wasn’t just a killer—he believed in a deadly set of rituals. He ran a criminal network that lured drivers and passengers under false pretenses, usually under the excuse of vehicle deals or job offers. But his intentions were far more sinister.

Once isolated, the victims were shot or stabbed, dismembered, and then buried or hidden in parts around his property. But that wasn’t all. Investigators soon discovered a more grotesque aspect of Kolander’s behavior—he practiced cannibalism.

Kolander believed that by boiling his victims’ brains and drinking the soup, he could absorb their intelligence. This belief wasn’t random. He targeted specific individuals, especially those he thought belonged to intellectually superior communities. One such victim was his co-worker Kali Prasad Srivastava, from the Kayastha community. Kolander assumed that “people belonging to this caste have sharp brains”, and after murdering Srivastava, he roasted the skull and made brain soup, which he consumed in the hope of gaining intellectual prowess.

The skulls found at his farm were more than evidence—they were trophies. Kolander would hang them from trees and label them with surnames or castes like “Srivastava,” “Pandit,” or “Muslim.” Reports suggested that he even spoke to these skulls, believing he had captured their souls or powers.

By the early 2000s, rumors of a brain-eating killer began to spread, and over 20 murders across eastern Uttar Pradesh were eventually suspected to be linked to Kolander.

The Delusions That Drove the Crimes

As the investigation deepened, so did insights into Kolander’s mind. Born as Ram Niranjan Kol, he came from the Kol tribal community in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Over time, he crafted a new identity as “Raja” Kolander—a self-proclaimed king who believed he could control life and death.

This delusion even shaped his family. He renamed his wife as “Phoolan Devi,” inspired by the infamous bandit-turned-politician. Their children were given symbolic names: Adalat (Court), Zamanat (Bail), and Andolan (Protest)—a reflection of Kolander’s obsession with power and punishment.

Outwardly, he maintained a respectable image. He worked at the Central Ordnance Depot, and his wife served as a district panchayat member. But behind this mask, he was deeply engrossed in occult rituals, superstition, and violence.

Kolander reportedly led a gang involved in vehicle theft. However, these crimes were more than thefts—they were systematic executions. Each driver or passenger lured was eventually killed as part of what Kolander treated as a twisted “hobby.”

His preferred weapons were firearms and knives. In Dhirendra Singh’s case, Kolander lured him to his farm with the promise of an interview. As the journalist relaxed by a campfire, Kolander’s brother-in-law, Bachh Raj Kol, ambushed him from behind and shot him with a homemade pistol. They then beheaded and dismembered him.

Kolander’s diary entries revealed the full extent of his madness. He believed that by consuming the brains of educated or high-status individuals, he would gain their “grey matter”—their intelligence and essence.

These rituals and his belief system, combined with his acts of shooting, cannibalism, and skull preservation, made him one of the most feared and unusual killers in India. His irrational motivations and the lack of complete physical evidence in some cases made it incredibly hard for authorities to fully grasp the scale of his crimes.

The Long Road to the 2012 Conviction

The dark shadow that Raja Kolander cast over eastern Uttar Pradesh began to lift in 2001, when police arrested him following the horrifying discovery of 14 human skulls buried at his farmhouse in Prayagraj. He, along with his brother-in-law and accomplice, Bachh Raj Kol (also known as Vakshraj), was taken into custody for a series of brutal crimes that spanned years. Given how vast and complicated the investigation was — with victims spread across multiple districts and states — the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) stepped in to handle the case.

Because the crimes were so numerous and stretched across different locations, Kolander was tried in separate cases. The first one to reach a conclusion was for the kidnapping and murder of journalist Dhirendra Singh, who had gone missing in 2000. After more than a decade of legal back-and-forth, a court in Allahabad (now Prayagraj) handed down its verdict in November 2012.

Raja Kolander and Bachh Raj Kol were found guilty of luring the journalist, shooting him dead, mutilating his body, and burying the remains. The evidence was undeniable. Investigators presented forensic material collected from the farmhouse, including the skull collection and handwritten diary entries that detailed the killings. These exhibits strongly connected Kolander to the crime.

The judge in Allahabad was visibly disturbed by the details. He called the case “a rarest of the rare” because of its cold-blooded nature and how it instilled fear in the public. In India, this label is typically reserved for cases deserving capital punishment. Yet, the court chose to sentence both men to life imprisonment, perhaps due to procedural limitations. The ruling formally recognized the recovery of 14 skulls from Kolander’s property as part of a series of killings.

At this point, Kolander was already in his early fifties and had spent over ten years in prison awaiting a conclusion to the trial. Still, justice had only just begun.

A Forgotten Case Returns to Court

While Kolander was convicted for Dhirendra Singh’s murder in 2012, the double murder case of businessman Manoj Kumar Singh and his driver Ravi Srivastava remained stuck in the judicial system. Although the CBI had filed a chargesheet by March 21, 2001, the case saw no proper movement until May 2013. Delays and logistical hurdles, including the higher priority given to the journalist’s case, stalled proceedings for over a decade.

Over time, the case became more complicated. One of the co-accused died during the long trial in 2017, while the cases against three other suspects were separated from the main hearings. Among them was Kolander’s wife, Phoolan Devi, who was believed to have been in the vehicle with the victims. Her trial proceeded independently, and she too was eventually convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

It wasn’t until the momentum from Kolander’s 2012 conviction picked up that prosecutors revisited the 2000 murders with renewed focus. They now had a solid foundation built on evidence from the earlier case and aimed to bring a final reckoning for Manoj and Ravi.

The 2025 Verdict: Final Judgment for a Double Murder

Justice came 25 years after the original crime. On May 23, 2025, a special CBI court in Lucknow, presided over by Additional District and Sessions Judge Rohit Singh, found Raja Kolander and Bachh Raj Kol guilty of the double murder of Manoj and Ravi.

The court concluded that the two had orchestrated the killings in a coordinated plot driven by greed and a thirst for domination. They were found guilty under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including:

• Section 396 (dacoity with murder)

• Section 364 (kidnapping)

• Section 412 (dishonestly receiving stolen property)

• Section 201 (destruction of evidence)

Judge Singh described the act as a “professionally executed and organized criminal conspiracy”, making it clear that the crime was not random but carefully planned.

During the sentencing, which took place that same week, the prosecution argued for the death penalty, emphasizing the “heinous and cold-blooded” nature of the murders and Kolander’s history of violent acts. However, the judge stated that the case did not satisfy the legal threshold for “the rarest of the rare,” due to insufficient direct evidence connecting every detail of the plot exclusively to Kolander.

As a result, both men were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Additionally, the court fined them ₹2.5 lakh each, with a portion intended for the families of the victims. For the related charges, they received further 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and ₹1 lakh fine each under Section 364 and 412, and 7 years with ₹50,000 fine under Section 201. All sentences were set to run concurrently, ensuring that Kolander would spend the rest of his life behind bars without any chance of release.

At the sentencing, witnesses described Kolander, now 63, as showing no remorse. He reportedly smirked in court as the judgment was read out. While he appeared in person, Bachh Raj Kol joined via video call from jail. By then, the two had already served more than a decade in connection with the earlier life sentences.

Kolander was held at Lucknow District Jail, and his accomplice was at the Naini jail in Prayagraj. Some sources mentioned that both might be moved to Unnao District Jail so they could serve their terms at the same facility.

The 2025 ruling finally brought closure to a 25-year-old case, one that had gripped the region in fear and disbelief. As one publication summed it up, the decision delivered “partial closure to one of the most disturbing crime sagas in Uttar Pradesh’s history.”

Legacy of Horror and Reflection

The crimes committed by Raja Kolander continue to haunt investigators and the public alike. Over the years, he has been linked to the murders of 14 to more than 20 individuals, many of them truck drivers, acquaintances, or people he saw as threats to his influence.

His methods were grotesque: combining elements of cannibalism, ritual killing, and organized crime. For years, Kolander insisted on his innocence, suggesting he was being framed and that his case was a political conspiracy. But these claims didn’t hold up against the DNA evidence from skulls, personal items recovered from the crime scene, and eyewitness testimonies. These pointed directly at him as the mastermind.

In 2022, Kolander’s story gained wider attention when it was featured in the Netflix true-crime docuseries “Indian Predator: The Diary of a Serial Killer.” The show included interviews with Kolander himself and explored the chilling psychology behind his actions.

Viewers were stunned by the details. He had believed in drinking a “brain soup” made from victims’ boiled brains to absorb their intelligence. The series, along with shows like “Abhay 2”, which portrayed a fictional version of Kolander, sparked debates about the nature of evil and how killers like him evade justice for so long.

Criminologists studying Kolander described him as having a “god complex”. He reportedly held mock court sessions in front of the skulls he had collected and felt it was within his power to punish those he disliked. Experts compared his behavior to ancient ritualistic practices but noted that in his case, it seemed to be driven more by personal delusion than any cultural or cult-based tradition.

Now that Kolander is behind bars for life, the affected communities can finally breathe a little easier. His sentences — served concurrently — effectively eliminate any possibility of parole or release.

For the families of Manoj, Ravi, and Dhirendra, the decades-long legal battle has finally ended. Although no sentence can undo the horror, the verdicts offer a sense of justice and peace. The Kolander case also led to better coordination between law enforcement agencies, improved handling of missing persons cases, and greater vigilance in uncovering hidden crimes.

As the Hindustan Times described it, this case’s final chapter delivers “a grisly criminal record” with a definitive judicial ending — ensuring that Raja Kolander, one of India’s most terrifying killers, will remain locked away for the rest of his life.