Act of Violence

***Disclaimer***

This article is for the enlightenment on loopholes in law and order and does not encourage anyone to take action on points described here. Further, this article is not written with the intent to support crimes of any sort. The punishment for murder under India’s Penal Code is life imprisonment or death and the person is also liable to a fine. The article is the figment of the writer's imagination, pointing out real-world facts will be appreciated.

“Innocent until proven guilty”, this justification of the Indian Judicial system mostly has its ups and downs, but in most cases of murder, works to the advantage of the accused. Here we can work with this justification in mind and find the most effective ways to escape conviction.

“Prevention is better than Cure”

Step one to any murder is to ensure that any and every loose end tied and make sure that before committing the crime the killer follows the same daily schedule so as to rid any suspicion in events of an investigation. Contract killing is the best way to ensure that the victim and the killer do not share any social connection and the only link between them is the contractor itself. This prevents the Investigation Officer (IO) from finding any motive for murder that is directly connected to the killer and all leads will have to pass through the knowledge of the contractor and in case of the contractor getting caught the killer gets ample time to either make necessary arrangements in order for evasion or to flee the location of current residence and vice versa.

Evidence is a vital part of ensuring that the killer is not caught. The amount of evidence left at a crime scene is directly proportional to the chances of the killer getting caught, so the best way to reduce the chances of getting caught is to actually make it believable that the crime has not been committed. To do that, the killer must ensure that the victim of the body is either surgically dispose of or buried away so that a missing person FIR is filed rather than a murder FIR. For an actual case to be registered by the system there should be information related to the death of the victim, removal of the body of the victim in a way that makes it considerably hard for the police to recover the body creates a delayed start in the investigation. This creates a new opportunity for risk management as the killer is presented with more time to either flee the country or further planning.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin

There are various steps to commit murder and a near-perfect murder is the one that has taken the path of the longest planning. Anybody can murder anyone in any number of ways, but there are some ways that make it almost impossible to trace the killer.

Ranged Killing (Ballistics):-

This is one of the most common methods used in murder that does not involve the killer coming in close proximity with the victim, subsequently, it is also the easiest method to make mistakes for almost all rookie murderers. Ranged killings eliminate the need to be present at the crime scene because it can be executed with help of ranged weapons like pistols, snipers, rifles, etc. This leaves either zero DNA evidence at the kill site or leaves partial traces if the killer is within proximity of the kill site (using handguns at point-blank). In these cases, the killer accounts for almost everything including being careful enough to not leave any DNA evidence at the crime scene but forgets about the bullet that is left inside the victim’s body and the bullet casing that ejects out of the weapon after use. If the weapon is bought from a legal or illegal vendor, then the investigation officer requests to run a ballistic report to recover information on the type of bullet used and the weapon it was shot from. This information is run against the police database and the vendor from whom the killer bought the weaponry is caught which indirectly leads to the killer being caught. In some cases, DNA/fingerprint search is run on the retrieved bullet casing to find information about the person who used the weapon. Points to avoid this shall be discussed after a few more points as it is common to most kinds of murder.

Combat Killing(close contact):-

This category consists of every possible scenario where the killer comes in proximity to the victim in order to take his life, common examples include murder by blunt force trauma, strangling, dismemberment of vital organs, stabbing using sharp objects, etc. This is the most commonly occurred category in India and subsequently, the easiest category to be caught as the presence of the killer at the crime scene leaves traces of evidence mostly in the forms of fingerprints or DNA. Industrial cleaning, which is surprisingly more cheap and common than it sounds, is the best way to remove prints and DNA evidence on site up to the most part. In this category, getting rid of the victim’s body plays a vital role in not getting caught for a long time. The best way to get rid of the body in a way where it is impossible to be recovered or any part of the body to be recovered is through dissolution. This seems to be nearing to the realm of movies and science fiction but I assure you it’s not. The process of dissolution is done by using sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, strong bases commonly known as lye. Heated to 300 degrees, a lye solution can turn a body into a tan liquid with the consistency of mineral oil in just three hours. Once the body turns into a liquid it’s easy to dispose of it in locations where it can never be found. Even if these steps are followed it’s still relatively easy to be caught because the killer has to ultimately enter and exit the crime scene and there are bound to be some kind of eyewitness or a CCTV camera that may have picked up the killers movements. There are ways to avoid these too, but it either requires to kill site to be located in remote places away from the societal population and in those cases, the victim needs to be abducted from his/her current location. This opens up an entire array of new problems as an extraction team needs to be hired, evidence will inevitably be left at the abduction point, and once the extraction team is caught it is only a matter of time until the killer is caught. This category is only preferred by killers who can afford to get caught but can get immediate bail through friends in high places. Strong support from either a powerful politician or moles inside the police is necessary to pull off the murder in this category.

Chemical killing:-

Unlike the types mentioned till now this type actually prefers a crowded area preferably bars/restaurants. In this method, the victim is either injected with or made to consume a chemical that ultimately causes the death of the victim. In this case, it is prudent to use chemicals that induce a natural cause of death. The best way is to use chemicals/drugs that are available at any medical store like any of the Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs which when given an overdose can cause heart failure and death of the victim, and in these cases the there is a high chance of the case being ruled off as incident of natural death. Another important point used in this category is victim profiling. The medical history of the targeted victim is pulled and inconsistencies are searched, for example, if the victim has a drug addiction then the killer injects an overdose of the drug used by the victim in order to kill him/her. Here the case is mostly ruled off as drug overdose and suspicion of foul play is overlooked. The said drug/chemical can be induced in many ways into the victim’s body, the most common way is either spiking the drink of the victim in a crowded bar or discreetly injecting the victim in a crowded place in order to cover the killers track and to also make it hard for the investigating officer to track any suspect since everybody at the crime scene has to be taken into account. This category is preferred by high-level contact killers with enough field experience and allies in powerful positions. The use of rare poison is discouraged as it can be identified during the autopsy and since the poison is rare the user base can be narrowed down making it easier to catch the killer. As always the killer should be careful enough not to leave any evidence that can be used by the police to catch the killer. In this category getting rid of the body isn’t always preferred.

These are some of the common ways used for murder in almost every country. The one thing yet to be discussed in the financials involving the murder and in most cases the killer is caught by tracking the money or securing their source. One of the most reliable methods is either wiring the money through an offshore account where India has no jurisdiction, this will make it almost impossible for money to be traced back to the killer’s account. This method is to be used while the purchase of any ammunition, weaponry, chemicals, etc. The details of how to actually wire money through offshore accounts has to be researched upon and having an experienced analyst and lawyer is a bonus for tight situations.

In conclusion, this article only explores the limited possibilities of committing murder and is only advisable for experienced killers with money and political supports backing up, in no way these described methods can be actually carried out by a beginner. There are still areas unexplored in this article like the legal side of committing murder and what procedures are to be followed when the killer by chance gets caught. One thing this article can guarantee is that if all methods are properly followed with only a limited margin of error then it makes it nearly impossible for the Indian Law enforcement to catch the killer. (Note that escape is never one hundred percent guaranteed as there is always a margin for error)The legal side of committing a murder is not to be excluded if an individual plans to commit murder and details on this will be discussed in the next article.

Reminder: This article does not encourage anybody to commit murder and is written strictly for informational purposes. The writer is not responsible for affecting the mindset of any potential criminal if they come in contact with this article. This article indirectly points out some loopholes in the investigation process and is not meant to be taken seriously.

Thank you for reading.