East Burdwan, July 7: A 38-year-old serial killer has been sentenced to death for murdering and sexually assaulting several women since 2013 in West Bengal’s East Burdwan. The accused identified as Kamruzzaman Sarkar was sentenced to death by a district court for raping and murdering a 16-year-old girl in May last year, a police official was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

According to the report, Sarkar was charged in 15 cases, including seven murder, two rape-and-murder and six attempts to murder. The victims were aged between 16 and 75 and the crimes took place between 2013 and 2019. Hyderabad Police Arrests 'Friendly' Serial Killer Who Murdered 12 People by Bludgeoning Their Heads With Rocks.

Sarkar used to enter houses of his targets posing as a power department employee on the pretext of recording electricity meter readings and then attacked the women, said some women who escaped the attack to court.

His pattern of killing was using a cycle chain to strangulate them and then hitting them on the head with the iron rod, which earned him a tag of "Chain man". He was also known as "Meter man", the daily reported.

“He chose his prey carefully and usually struck in the afternoons when the men of the houses were away at work. He would conduct a recce for two-three days to find out whether the woman he wanted to target was alone at home,” said Bhaskar Mukherjee, SP of East Burdwan district.

Superstition had landed Sarkar in police net. Cops said that the serial killer believed that red was his lucky colour and his astrologer had advised him to use it. So Sarkar continued to use his red bike and red helmet even after some women managed to escape.

After the murder of a teenage girl, cops had formed teams and took the help of volunteers to nab Chain man. Two civic volunteers flagged down a red motorbike when Sarkar tried to speed past the barricade and fell. He was eventually arrested.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 07, 2020 12:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).