MOHAN KUMAR: Former school principal turned serial killer, who murdered 20 women

Mohan Kumar, 50, doesn't look a hardcore criminal but behind this ordinary face lurks a dreaded serial killer who was behind 20 brutal murders in Karnataka.

Kumar who was also known as Ananda had a signature style of committing these murders. He lured the women with false promise of marriage and then killed them using poison. 

He also raped and robbed the women before killing them. Such was his audacity that he killed women and girls in toilets, hotel rooms, lodges in Mangalore and nearby region. 

For years the mystery behind the series of murders remained unresolved. Finally, he was caught. Now the court has held him guilty and convicted him.

The middle-aged man also sexually abused his victims. The impostor in many cases persuaded the girls to have sexual relation with him. The victims thought that he was going to marry them and hence consented.

Then, he would give poisonous pill by telling them that it was 'contraceptive' to avoid pregnancy. The victim would believe and lose life in process. For years, he managed to escape from the clutches of the law. 

However it was in October 2009, that he was finally arrested for the murders of girls in Bangalore, Mysore, Hassan and Madikeri. What was his modus operandi? The criminal was so calculative that he identified his prey. He lured the young women by promising them either a job or marriage without dowry. 

When the victim began trusting him, he would take her along to a hotel or lodge and commit the crime. In 2009, a woman, Anita, went missing. The local right-wing groups had called it Love Jihad and led a movement on her death.

But it was later found that Mohan Kumar was behind her murder too. The police got a clue because her cell phone was used by him to contact another woman, who was also murdered in the same year. The dots were connected and that's how police went on the killer's trail. 

In many cases, he killed the girl when she believed that the marriage would be solemnised in a few hours. Dressed in their best, the girl would come and meet him, so that he would take her to the temple for the wedding ceremony.

But he instead sexually exploited and robbed the girl, and killed her. Often, he took the girl to a desolate place near a public toilet or a bus stand, and give her the tablet. When she died, he would leave the spot and walk away.

Unimaginable it may seem but Mohan Kumar used CYANIDE to kill the victims. The list of the victims is long. 

Anitha, Lilavathi, Sunanda, and many other girls were cheated and then murdered by him. He robbed the victim after murder and stole their belongings including the jewellery.

Mohan Kumar targeted women in the age group 18-35. He used fake names to stay in hotels but when the police finally traced him, his handwriting and other records at the hotels, also matched.

Kumar is now convicted in separate cases and lodged in jail. The cold-blooded criminal is being tried in 17 cases.

It is suspected that he has killed many more women. Kumar was principal at a school but after he was first arrested, he was dismissed.

However, he had managed to convince police that he was not involved in a crime in 2005. Later, he was arrested in 2009. In three cases, Mohan Kumar alias Anand Kulal has already been convicted. He has been given death penalty by hanging.