KP Jayanandan, better known as 'the Ripper Jayanandan', is an Indian serial killer who murdered seven people in 35 robberies. Born in 1968 in Thrissur, Kerala state, he committed all his crimes and murders in the border areas of his hometown of Ernakulam and its surroundings. According to the Argentine News Agency, Jayanandan's first major crime was the robbery of 45-year-old José's house near the Mala police station in September 2003. In this incident, he struck the sleeping homeowner with a crowbar, killing him, before escaping with 17,000 rupees (about $374) and a video player. The second crime occurred in March 2004, when he killed 51-year-old Nabeesa, who had woken up after hearing noises. There, he also murdered 23-year-old Fousiya and attacked 28-year-old Noorjahan and two children. In October 2004, he committed his third robbery and murdered 64-year-old Kalapurackkal Sahadevan and his 58-year-old wife, Nirmala. The homicide took place in a house in Perinjanam, Thrissur district, and the killer stole 11.25 gold sovereigns (bonds to invest in gold without physically owning it). Jayanandan committed another robbery at a house in Thrissur, where he attacked Aravindaksha Panicker and his wife Omana Panicker, causing them serious injuries, and also stole gold ornaments worth 18 sovereigns. This criminal struck again, this time at a Kerala State Beverages Corporation establishment in North Paravoor in August 2005. There, security guard Subhashakan challenged him to rob the neighboring house and take more money and three video players, but Jayanandan struck him on the head with an iron bar and killed him. This criminal was arrested by the police, and the principal sessions judge of Thrissur sentenced him to death by hanging in June 2008 for the seven crimes he committed. He was then sent to the Central Jail of Poojapura to await his execution, but he escaped in June 2013. The police suspected the escape occurred after midnight, as the escapees had cut the cylindrical latch on the barred cell door, possibly with a saw, and climbed the relatively low wall of the block. This wall had been fortified and surrounded with an electrified barbed-wire fence in 2011 to hold terrorism suspect Thadiyantevide Nazeer. The prisoners went to the prison infirmary and stole sheets and clothes from clotheslines to quickly build a rudimentary ladder from wooden poles to scale the wall. In their cells, they left their beds with pillows inside to simulate that they were sleeping. On top of that, security cameras could not spot the escape because they were off due to a power outage. Jayanandan was finally re-arrested on September 9, 2013, by the Kerala Police in Nellayil, when the fugitive was waiting to have his bicycle fixed. The death sentence for this criminal was commuted to life imprisonment, although in March 2023 he was granted a two-day parole to attend his daughter Keerthi's wedding.
