Expert talk: Mind of a serial killer

New Delhi: Experts say Moninder Singh Pandher, accused in the Nithari serial killings, may be a psychopath or a serial killer.

Pandher graduated from Delhi's top college, St. Stephen's and went on to run a successful transport business. Known to friends as Goldie, he was a loner, separated from his family with hunting as one of his hobbies. So, is this the face of a serial killer?

While analysis is on to determine the truth, CNN-IBN attempts to understand the psyche of a serial killer with criminologist Dr B N Chattoraj and criminal psychologist Dr Rajat Mitra.

The personality

“In this case Moninder Singh Pandher has manifested many characteristics that matches with a psychopath. He was separated from his wife and son and there were lots of complaints from his parents’ side also,” criminologist, Dr B N Chattoraj says.

“The serial killers that I have seen and worked with, their childhood was marked by a lot of interpersonal violence, a lot of disturbed relationships. These people were loners,” criminal psychologist, Dr Rajat Mitra explains.

The motive

“It is not that they're unconscious or they are acting in a compulsive manner. They're making a choice,” reasons Mitra.

“The thing is that they don't have a sense of consequence. They don't have a sense of guilt but these people are highly intelligent in the way they execute their plan,” Mitra adds.

“He has very carefully planned all these things in such a manner that for two long years he was not identified. His target was small children from poor families,” explains Chattoraj.

The signature

“Two things are very important about them – one is their modus operandi and the other is their signature. The signature is the uniqueness about a serial killer. The fact that the skeletons were buried there might have given him a sense of power and control,” Mitra says.

The mask

“Very difficult to identify this kind of personality,” explains Chattoraj.

“It's possible that all of us may have sat next to a serial killer in our life without knowing it,” Mitra says matter-of-factly.

Serial killers don't fight the system, they dupe it. Moninder Singh was questioned by the police more than once and not arrested. And now he faces a narco-analysis test that may not stand in court. Is the police geared to deal with the complexities of criminal minds?

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