Serial Killers of India, Episode 2: Cyanide Mohan
Posing as a prospective groom, Cyanide Mohan allegedly lured vulnerable women with promises of marriage before poisoning them with cyanide, making him one of India's most notorious serial killers.
In the first episode of Serial Killers of India, we explored the chilling story of Doctor Death. Now, in Episode 2, we look at one of India's most infamous serial killers — Cyanide Mohan.
Born in 1963, Mohan Kumar worked as a physical education teacher in Karnataka before leaving the profession in 2003. Behind his ordinary appearance, however, was a predator living multiple lives with multiple women.
His first known attempt to kill came in 2000, when he allegedly pushed his wife Ratna into the Netravathi River. She survived, and Mohan was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Over the next six years, Mohan targeted unmarried women, often from economically vulnerable backgrounds. Posing as a government employee and promising marriage without dowry, he gained their trust and convinced them to elope with him.
After spending a night together, he would hand them what he claimed was a contraceptive pill and ask them to take it in a bus station washroom. The pill was actually laced with cyanide.
Within minutes, the victims would collapse and die. Since they were often found alone inside locked toilets, many deaths were initially mistaken for suicides or medical emergencies. Mohan would then steal their jewellery and disappear.
For years, the murders remained unconnected.
The breakthrough came in 2009 after the disappearance of 22-year-old Anitha Bangera. While trying to cover his tracks, Mohan made a critical mistake—he kept Anitha's mobile phone and gifted it to his nephew. When the phone was traced, investigators finally reached him.
Police recovered jewellery, fake IDs, mobile phones, and cyanide tablets, eventually linking him to nearly 20 murders across Karnataka.
A key witness was Shanti, a woman who had survived his cyanide attack months earlier. Her testimony helped strengthen the case against him.
Initially sentenced to death in 2013, Mohan's punishment was later reduced to life imprisonment by the Karnataka High Court. Today, he remains behind bars, remembered as one of India's most notorious serial killers — Cyanide Mohan.
