Shraddha Walkar murder case: When reel inspired real crimes in India

Gory details keep emerging in the Shraddha Walkar murder case, in which her live-in partner Aftab Poonawala reportedly took inspiration from the TV series ‘Dexter’ to chop her into 35 pieces and spread them across a nearby forest. Movies and TV shows have influenced crime to a large extent in India and abroad, with amateurs and hardened criminals alike using copycat methods to execute their wrongdoings. 

Let’s have a look at a few such cases in India. 

Nov 5, 2022: In Tripura’s Dhalai district, a 17-year-old drug addict first killed his mother and sister, and then two more people to hide the crime. He was inspired by ‘Crime Patrol’. The boy always fought with his sister, and their mother always took the latter’s side. On a fateful day, the boy killed his mother and sister during their afternoon nap. He put on loud music to drown the screams as he repeatedly hit them on the head. A suspicious relative met the same fate, and so did a neighbour who came to drink water and noticed blood stains. All the bodies were dumped in a well. 

Oct-Nov 2022: The movie ‘Drishyam’ has influenced several murders from Ghaziabad to Kerala. The remains of a man were recently dug up from a house in Ghaziabad’s Sikrod village; he was missing since 2018. Turns out the victim had caught his wife and neighbour in a compromising position, following which the two conspired to murder him. The neighbour dumped the body in a pit in his house and cemented it. A similar case came to light from Kerala’s Kottayam district where a man’s body was recovered from an under-construction house. The accused had buried the body and cemented the floor. 

Sept 26-30, 2019: Ashwani Kumar from UP’s Bijnore district, committed three murders before shooting himself dead as police closed down upon him. On September 26, 2019, he killed two men to avenge an insult, and four days later, Dubai-based air hostess Nikita Sharma on whom he had a crush. Sharma never reciprocated and was to get married in December. On social media, Kumar would post videos and images of Shahid Kapoor from ‘Kabir Singh’ and lip-sync the dialogues. In one of the videos, he’d warned, “Jo mera nahi ho sakta, usey kisi aur ke hone ka mauka nahi doonga.” 

Nov 22, 2017: The bride of a farmer from Roorkee, Uttarakhand, ran off with gold and silver jewelry gifted to her by the family a day after their wedding. The woman was inspired by Sonam Kapoor’s character in ‘Dolly ki Doli’. 

Oct 29, 2017: Three men posing as researchers got access to Delhi’s National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy, did a test run spotting CCTV cameras and other weak points, and stole 16 shawls, which were more than 250 years old and worth Rs 2 crore. The gang was inspired by ‘Dhoom 2’. 

Feb 2016: Snapdeal employee Dipti Sarna’s abduction in Ghaziabad made national headlines after the kidnapper Devendra admitted he was inspired by Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Darr. Apparently, Devendra wanted to kidnap Dipti and then win her love. 

2012-16: The movie ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’ has also inspired several cheats. For example, in 2012, a group of men in Delhi sought to leak question papers of the postgraduate course at AIIMS. They would SMS answers to students during the examination. Four years later, a similar racket was unearthed and 12 people were held for appearing in the Uttarakhand Ayurveda Pre-Medical Test on behalf of other aspirants. 

June 2015: Inspired by ‘Special 26’, one Jagdish Mewada from Mumbai and seven of his friends committed a daring day-time robbery at his uncle Jayanthibhai Sarvaiya’s home posing as fake I-T officials. They got away with a bounty worth Rs 1.65 crore, including jewelry and several valuables. Incidentally, the movie, itself based on real-life incidents, has inspired over one dozen such robberies until now in different parts of the country. 

Sept 2013: Inspired by ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’, a DDA (Delhi Development Authority) employee forged documents to sell and resell government plots resulting in disputes between parties.

READ | Shraddha Walkar murder case: Confident of a 'perfect crime', how a drunk Aaftab boasted about Dexter-inspired killing