Auto Shankar

Infobox Criminal
subject_name = Auto Shankar


image_size =
image_caption =
date_of_birth = Birth date|1954|1|21
place_of_birth = Chennai, India
date_of_death = Birth date|1995|4|27
place_of_death = Salem, Tamil Nadu, India
charge = Murder
penalty = Death by hanging
status =
occupation = Auto rickshaw driver
spouse =
parents =
children =

Auto Shankar (21 January, 1954 - 27 April, 1995) is the nickname of an Indian serial killer.

Murders

Shankar and his gang were found guilty of six murders, committed over a period of two years in 1988-1989. [http://www.hindu.com/2005/11/26/stories/2005112620501000.htm The Hindu : Auto Shankar's brother gets life imprisonment] ] They were tried for the murders of Lalitha, Sudalai, Sampath, Mohan, Govindaraj and Ravi. The bodies of the victims were either burnt or buried inside residential houses.

Trial

Shankar's trial was completed by the Chengalpattu sessions court; He was sentenced to death along with two of his associates, Eldin and Shivaji, on May 31, 1991.

During his trial Auto Shankar blamed films for "making a devil of him", but a month before his execution, he revealed to reporters a more sinister force. According to his account, he had kidnapped the girls for powerful state politicians, subsequently disposing of them after his patrons had raped them. Fact|date=February 2007 Auto Shankar was hanged in Salem Central Prison.

Associates

In 2002, Shankar's five accomplices were sentenced to six months of Rigorous Imprisonment after having been found guilty by a Magistrate. [http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/05/05/stories/2002050501780400.htm The Hindu : RI for jail warders in 'Auto' Shankar case] ] The accomplices were Shankar's brother, Mohan, Selva alias Selvaraj and the jail warders Kannan, Balan and Rahim Khan. They were found guilty of "criminal conspiracy" and "resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension".

Subsequently, Shankar's younger brother, Auto Mohan, was also found guilty of the six murders and was awarded three life sentences. Mohan had earlier escaped from the Chennai Central Prison in August 1990 and was re-arrested in Pune on June 25, 1992.

Responses

K. Vijay Kumar, the Tamil Nadu Additional Director-General of Police, claimed that cinema was solely responsible for making Shankar a criminal. [http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/05/stories/2007030503780300.htm The Hindu : Media, police should not harm society's interests] ] He mentioned this during a seminar on "Crime and Media" in Kerala.

The trial has become widely known across the nation since the Supreme Court invoked the American free speech doctrine and the case became oft-quoted in relation to cases of expose. [ [http://www.hindu.com/2003/12/12/stories/2003121201851200.htm The Hindu : Whistles, stings and slapps] ] [ [http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2001/09/07/stories/05072523.htm The Hindu : Tehelka: what next?] ] [ [http://www.hindu.com/2004/10/15/stories/2004101500821000.htm The Hindu : The Tehelka Commission] ]

References