2024 witnessed several spine-chilling and high-profile crimes, sending shockwaves across the nation and igniting widespread outrage as well as criticism. From the gruesome rape-murder of a young doctor in Kolkata and the horrific Pune Porsche crash to the high-profile political assassination in Mumbai, several crime stories made headlines and sparked outrage in the country.
According to an assessment of crime rates (2024) by World Population Review, India ranks 79th among 197 countries. Among other violent crimes in India, crime against women continues to be a deeply concerning issue. It has been over a decade that the Nirbhaya Act was introduced which enforced stricter punishments for the guilty and faster trials, however, women in India face a wide spectrum of threats to their safety even today.
As 2024 comes to a close, here's a look at some of the most brutal incidents that left India in disbelief:
1. RG Kar rape-murder case
A trainee doctor was brutally raped and murdered in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The CBI had filed a chargesheet against the prime accused, Sanjay Roy, for the rape-murder of the on-duty doctor whose body was found on August 9 with signs with multiple injuries. As per the chargesheet, a civic volunteer with the local police Roy allegedly committed the crime when the woman was resting in the hospital's seminar hall. Doctors across the nation have spearheaded protests and the Mamata Banerjee administration's handling of the case left the Bengal CM open to attacks from all sides.
Both the BJP and the Left criticised the Bengal government. The victim's parents, too, alleged that there have been attempts to cover up the truth. What came across as extremely insensitive and disheartening was the Rs. 10 lakh offer made by Mamata Banerjee to the woman's parents.
2. Baba Siddique killing
In one of India's most high-profile assassinations, former Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique was murdered in Mumbai on October 12, 2024. The 66-year-old leader, who sustained two bullet injuries to his chest, was shot near his son Zeeshan Siddique's office in Bandra.
Lawrence Bishnoi's alleged aide Shubu Lonkar claimed responsibility for the murder of Siddique in a Facebook post. However, the Mumbai Police told a special court that the name of Anmol Bishnoi, younger brother of jailed gangster Lawrence, has emerged as the main conspirator in the killing of the NCP leader. The police also said that Anmol had sent Rs 40,000 to one of the accused and had gotten in touch with the gang members through social media apps like Snapchat. The Mumbai Crime Branch and the Uttar Pradesh Police Special Task Force (STF) arrested prime accused Shiv Kumar Gautam along with four others in November from an area near the Nepal border. So far, the Crime Branch has arrested 26 accused in connection with murder of Siddique.
A prominent political figure of Maharashtra, Baba Siddique's grand iftar parties gained huge popularity and became an annual event with the who's who of politics and Bollywood attending it.
3. Renukaswamy murder
Another high-profile case that made headlines in 2024 involved popular Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa. He was arrested on June 11 in connection with the murder of his fan Renukaswamy. The 33-year-old's body was found with multiple injuries at Sumanahalli Bridge in Bengaluru on June 8. The Bengaluru police had, in November, filed a 1,300-page supplementary chargesheet in the case implicating the movie star and his associates.
As per the autopsy report, Renukaswamy suffered 39 injuries, including a broken chest bone and damage to his testicles, leading to his death. It also revealed that the victim had a deep, bleeding head injury and a torn ear. The victim had sent obscene messages to Darshan's friend Pavithra Gowda, which allegedly resulted in his murder.
On December 13, the Karnataka HC granted bail to Darshan, Pavithra and few others nearly six months after their arrest.
4. Pune Porsche case
On May 19, two IT professionals (Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshtawere) were killed in Pune's Kalyani Nagar after their motorcycle was hit by a speeding Porsche car. The luxury car was allegedly driven by a juvenile Vedant Agarwal in an inebriated condition.
The case sparked massive uproar across the country after the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) granted bail to the 17-year-old accused on very moderate terms - which included writing a 300-word essay on road safety, studying traffic safety norms and undergoing deaddiction counselling. This decision drew severe criticism, prompting the government to initiate an inquiry into the actions of the JJB members. Further probe also revealed that the minor's blood sample was swapped with his mother's.
The father and grandfather of the accused teen, who were arrested over charges of kidnapping and wrongful confinement of a family driver, were granted bail in July. However, the minor's parents are behind bars as there has been no court relief for them in the blood swapping case.
5. Bengaluru fridge murder
In one of the most chilling murders of 2024, a 29-year-old Bengaluru woman was found chopped into around 50 pieces and stored in a fridge. Mahalakshmi's body was recovered from a single-room flat in Bengaluru's Malleshwaram on September 21. The prime suspect, Mukti Ranjan Roy, was found hanging from a tree in Odisha days after the horrific incident came to light.
Mukti Ranjan and Mahalakshmi, who was separated from her husband, were in a relationship. However, there were frequent arguments and physical fights between Mukti and Mahalakshi, with some disputes spilling out into the street just outside her home in Vyalikaval. Probe revealed that the victim was allegedly pressuring Mukti to marry her which led to constant arguments between them. Irked over this, the prime accused killed Mahalakshmi and later dismembered her body.
The case had striking similarities with that of 27-year-old Shraddha Walkar's killing in Delhi in 2022. She was killed by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala who chopped her body into 35 pieces. Poonawala then threw the body parts in a forested area in Delhi.
6. Delhi triple murder
Three members of a family - a couple and their daughter - were found murdered in South Delhi' Neb Sarai on December 6. However, within hours of the bodies being recovered Delhi police cracked the case and arrested the accused. The killings were carried out by the couple's son Arjun Tanwar, a Delhi University student.
Arjun, a state level boxer, slit the throats of his parents Rajesh and Komal Tanwar and his sister Kavita. Police recovered Arjun's blood-stained sweatshrt as well as the murder weapon (an Army knife) from Sanjay Van. They claimed that Rajesh had humiliated and thrashed Arjun in front of relatives and neighbours just days before the shocking triple murder. Arjun chose December 4 to carry out the grisly murders since it was the marriage anniversary of his parents.
During the probe, the accused revealed that he first killed his sister by slitting her throat while she was asleep. He then went upstairs where he stabbed his father in his neck and slit his mother's throat.
7. Bareilly serial killings
Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh was in the grip of terror for over a year as 9 middle-aged women were found murdered in a similar fashion. The victims were found strangled in fields with their clothes disheveled. However, there were no signs of sexual assault. All the women (in the age group of 45-65) were either strangled with sarees or dupattas.
The spate of killings began in June 2023 when three women were found dead in fields in three different villages. These were followed by one each in July, August and October and two murders in November. The UP police sprung into action with an additional force of 300 cops patrolling and keeping an eye on notorious criminals. Suddenly there were no such incidents for about 7 months, bringing relief to the people of Bareilly. It was in July 2024 that the accused found his ninth target and striked with the same modus operandi.
The serial killer's reign of terror finally came to an end with 35-year-old Kuldeep Kumar Gangwar's arrest in August. The Bareilly resident was arrested three days after the Bareilly police released sketches of three suspects based on eye-witness descriptions.
Based on interrogation, cops revealed that Kuldeep's married life had fallen apart and his wife had left him. He resorted to drinking alcohol and soon started targeting women in nearby jungles. While growing up, he often saw his mother being brutally thrashed by his father at the instigation of his second wife. A cop involved in the probe said that the accused specifically targeted middle-aged women because of his hatred for his stepmother.
8. Bengaluru CEO son murder
2024 began with the sensational murder of a 4-year-old boy by his mother Suchana Seth, a Bengaluru-based start-up CEO. The 39-year-old accused was arrested from Karnataka's Chitradurga on January 8 when she was travelling with her son's body concealed in a suitcase.
Seth killed her son in a Goa hotel room over an ugly custody battle with her husband Venkat Raman. It was the alert housekeeping staff of the hotel who informed the cops soon after the woman exited the place with a bag in hand. The hotel staff had found blood-stained towels in the room and couldn't find Seth's son.
Cops recovered a handwritten note, scribbled hastily and purportedly with an eyeliner. "Court and my husband pressuring me to give custody of my son. I cannot take it anymore ... My ex-husband is violent ... he used to teach bad manners to son. I am extremely guilty and frustrated. I love my son, but I did not want to see him meeting his father," it read.
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