Do you know? Sonakshi Sinha and Vijay Varma led web series, on Amazon Prime Video, ‘Dahaad’ is inspired by the story of a real-life serial killer.

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The crime thriller web series ‘Dahaad’, produced by Excel Entertainment of Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani and Tiger Baby Productions (Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar) for streaming platform Amazon Prime Video, starred Sinha as the sub-inspector Anjali Bhaati and Vijay Varma as Anand Swarnakar – a college lecturer and a serial killer behind the murders of at least 27 women.

Directed by Reema Kagti and Ruchika Oberoi, the 8-episode series was seemingly inspired by the notorious Indian criminal, M Jaishankar aka Psycho Shankar, who was involved in multiple rape and murder cases.

Psycho Shankar

Hailed from Kanniyampatty in Edappadi, Salem district of Tamil Nadu, India, Psycho Shankar was a truck driver by profession, who was accused of rape and murder of at least 15 women, most of whom were sex workers. Jaishankar was well-learnt in multiple regional Indian languages and would drive his victims to isolated camps before attacking them.

Arrest

Jaishankar, who committed the heinous crimes between 2008-2011, was first arrested in 2009 for the rape and murder of an officer, after which police learnt about more than two dozen other complaints filed against him. He was charged with 13 cases of rape and murder at that time.

1st Escape

In March 2011, after he was presented before the court, Jaishakar tricked two officials, M Chinnasamy and Rajvelu, wearing a police uniform, to escape the prison.

After his escape, one of the two officials, Chinnasamy, who was 25 at that time, committed suicide due to embarrassment.

After the escape, the heinous crimes of Jaishankar spread to the Karnataka state of India, where he killed at least six women in Bellary district and another boy and a man in Dharmapuri district.

2nd Escape

He was caught once again when trying to rape a woman while she was working in the fields and was sent to Bangalore prison, where he underwent psychiatric treatment and was discovered that Jaishankar had no control over his criminal instincts.

After requesting a transfer to a different cell, he managed to escape the prison using a duplicate key. He broke his leg during the escape and was eventually caught while travelling to another city via bike.

Psycho Shankar was under 24/7 CCTV surveillance in a high-security prison, which he tried to flee once more but his attempts were unsuccessful. He remained in the custody until his death by suicide.

Death by Suicide

The serial killer committed suicide by slitting his throat with a razor blade which he obtained from a barber a day earlier, while in solitary confinement.

A Kannada movie ‘Psycho Shankar’, based on his life and crimes, was released in 2017.

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