Gay Serial Killer In India Was Hurt By Comments On His Sexuality

Gay serial killer Ram Saroop, who stands accused of killing 11 people in Punjab, India, has admitted that derogatory comments about his sexuality were motivators in his crimes. 

Saroop, who is also known by the alias Sodhi, operated primarily on Punjab highways where he would dress as a woman to lure victims. During the investigation, Saroop stated that emotional distress pushed him to kill a number of his victims. As reported by India Today, he stated that his final victim Maninder Singh had mocked his sexuality and made comments about his body, leading Saroop to murder him. 

Elsewhere in the investigation, Saroop revealed that he felt a deep sense of betrayal and anger that would lead him to target men who refused to pay for his sexual services or insulted his sexuality, with comments that would trigger him. 

In custody, Saroop stated that he had an obsession with dressing as a woman and wearing makeup as a child without his parents’ knowing. Though he had accepted his own homosexuality by 22, the rejection and insults from those he killed left a marked impression on his mind. 

The body of Maninder Singh was found in Kiratpur Sahib, where Saroop had left a muffler behind that eventually led to his arrest. After he was caught, Saroop admitted to the crime and to killing at least 10 other men.

Saroop would first ask his victims for a lift before engaging in a brief sexual encounter, and killing the men if they refused to pay him after the fact. A signature of Saroop’s MO was writing the phrase “dhokebaaz”, meaning cheater, on the bodies of his victims in red ink, which he stated was a way to “apologise” for the crimes he committed. 

Due to his leaving a muffler behind at the scene of Maninder Singh’s murder, police were able to track down Saroop and arrest him for the crime. Though Saroop admitted to 11 crimes in custody, he’s only been officially linked to six of them so far.