Who Is Cyanide Mallika? Inside the Crimes of India’s First Female Serial Killer

Cyanide Mallika, India’s first female serial killer, terrorised Bengaluru and temple towns. She targeted women devotees, using cyanide to murder them for their gold jewellery. Her shocking crimes, capture, and conviction remain infamous in India.

Between the late 1990s and 2007, a series of mysterious deaths of women on the outskirts of Bengaluru and in nearby temple towns sent shockwaves across Karnataka. The victims were found dead without visible injury marks and, in several cases, their bodies were partially decomposed. With no immediate clues pointing to murder, many of these deaths were initially registered as ‘unnatural deaths’, leaving investigators baffled and the public gripped by fear.

It took nearly a decade for the police to uncover the horrifying truth that a single woman was behind the killings. She was KD Kempamma, infamously known as ‘Cyanide Mallika’, India’s first female serial killer.

Even today, the name ‘Cyanide Mallika’ sends shivers down the spine of both the public and law enforcement officers. Although she was officially convicted in six murder cases, several investigators, including retired police officer SK Umesh, have expressed strong suspicion that Kempamma may have been responsible for the deaths of at least 13 women.

Life Before the Crimes

Born in the 1970s into a poor family in Kaggaliapura village on the outskirts of Bengaluru, Kempamma had little formal education. She was married to a tailor in Bengaluru and was the mother of two daughters and a son.

However, her desire to become wealthy quickly pushed her life onto a dark and dangerous path.

Kempamma initially started a chit fund business near her home but suffered heavy financial losses. Following this, her husband deserted her. To make ends meet, she began working as a domestic helper and started stealing gold jewellery and valuables from the houses where she worked. She was arrested by the Bidadi police in a theft case and spent six months in jail.

Discovery of Cyanide and the Murder Method

After her release from prison, Kempamma worked for a goldsmith, where she was introduced to cyanide, a highly toxic chemical. She soon learnt that even a small quantity could cause death and that it left no visible injury marks on the body. This knowledge became the foundation of her methodical and cold-blooded crimes.

Her targets were primarily female devotees visiting temples, especially those wearing gold jewellery. Kempamma would befriend them, gain their trust and exploit their emotional vulnerabilities. She promised religious remedies, pujas and mandala vratas to women facing personal distress, summoning them to temples on the outskirts of towns.

During the rituals, she would ask the devotees to close their eyes in prayer and then offer them holy water laced with cyanide.

The Gruesome Series of Murders

Kempamma committed her first known murder in 1999, killing Mamatha Rajan, a wealthy 30-year-old woman. In 2000, she was arrested again for theft and jailed for six months. After her release, she resumed her crimes with greater confidence and caution.

Between October 10 and December 18, 2007, she murdered five women in quick succession.

• Elizabeth (52), Satanur: Lured while praying for her missing granddaughter and killed at the Kabbalamma temple.
• Yashodhamma (60), Siddaganga Math, Kyathasandra: Murdered after being promised a cure for asthma.
• Muniyamma (60), Yediyur Siddalingeshwara Temple: A devotee who wished to sing devotional songs.
• Pillamma (60), Vaidyanathapura, Maddur: Killed under the pretext of constructing an arch for the Hebbal temple.
• Nagaveni (30): A woman praying for a child; she became Kempamma’s final victim on December 18, 2007.

Despite committing these murders, Kempamma continued her daily domestic work as usual, raising no suspicion. During this period, she used the name ‘Mallika’ while staying at lodges, a name that eventually gave rise to her notorious identity as ‘Cyanide Mallika’.

How the Police Cracked the Case? 

The breakthrough came when retired Superintendent of Police SK Umesh read a newspaper report about Yashodhamma’s body being found in a lodge in Maddur. He noticed striking similarities with earlier unexplained deaths.

When the victim’s mobile phone IMEI number was traced, Kempamma was arrested at a private bus stand in Bengaluru. A search of her belongings led to the recovery of cyanide and gold jewellery belonging to the victims.

Conviction and Sentence

In 2010, Cyanide Mallika was sentenced to death for the murder of Muniyamma, making her the first woman in Karnataka to receive the death penalty. In 2012, her death sentence in the Nagaveni murder case was commuted to life imprisonment.

Life in Prison

Currently around 50 years old, Cyanide Mallika is serving her sentence at Parappana Agrahara Central Jail in Bengaluru. In 2017, it emerged that she was lodged in an adjacent cell to VK Sasikala during the latter’s imprisonment. For security reasons, Kempamma was later shifted to another prison.