25 March,2009 08:57 AM IST | | Imran Gowhar
She killed six women by giving them 'holy' water laced with the chemical
Cyanide Mallika, considered to be the first woman serial killer, was awarded a death sentence by a Fast Track Court yesterday.
Acting on a tip-off, Bangalore police arrested her on December 31, 2007 while she was trying to sell jewellery belonging to her victims. Mallika told police that she bought cyanide from a goldsmith and learnt the art of killing with cyanide from movies.
Mallika had several aliases Lakshmi, Kempamma, Savithramma, Jayamma, Shimogamma and Kala.
Background
Mallika took to crime in 1999 after incurring losses in the chit fund business. She would visit temples in and around Bangalore and befriend women, offering to perform poojas for their well-being. She told her victims to wear jewellery for the pooja. She would perform a mock prayer and give her victimsu00a0 'holy' water, laced with cyanide. She would then decamp with their jewellery.
The victims
>>Mamatha (30) fromu00a0 Hoskote,u00a0 Oct 1999.
>>Elizabeth (52), from Satanur in Nov 2007 at Kabalamma temple, was promised she'd find her missing granddaughter.
>>Yashodhamma (60) at Siddaganga Mutt, Kyata-sandra, in Dec 2007 was promised relief from asthma.
>>Muniyamma (60) of Yelahanka at Yadiyur Siddalngeshwar Temple,u00a0 wanted to be a singer of devotional songs.
>>Pillamma (60) a temple priest at Hebbal, was killed at Maddur Vyadyanathapura. She was promised that she would sponsor an arch for the temple.
>>Nagaveni (30) in December 2007, was promised she would have a son.u00a0
