This was the first case of serial killing by a woman in modern India, and it shook the country. In 1999, she committed her first murder, the first in a series of poisonings. She would deceive naive temple visitors by informing them about a specific puja she knew how to do that would solve their problems.
She would tell women to meet her in a deserted location, decked up in all their beautiful jewelry, and then offer them cyanide-laced food or drink. She would seize the victims’ jewelry and flee when they died of poisoning. In 2008, Kempamma was caught. In 2021, a Kannada film based on her deadly exploits, “Cyanide Mallika,” was released.
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