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A SERVANT in India has been charged with the rape and murder of a young woman, and police said he has confessed to killing 16 women and children, eating some of their flesh, in a case that has shocked the country.
Surender Koli was charged with killing a 26-year-old prostitute, one of 19 victims whose mutilated remains were found packed in 57 plastic bags in December around the house where he was working in Noida, a town on the outskirts of New Delhi.
Police and local officials have been heavily criticised for their handling of the case. A federal government investigation accused them of ignoring reports of missing children for more than two years because the victims were from poor families.
"Of the first victim, he ate the flesh of that particular unfortunate lady ... he put it in the cooker and ate it," Arun Kumar, joint director of India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), said.
He said that the liver of another victim was eaten raw.
A psychiatrist said he had analysed Mr Koli and found him to be sexually aroused by raping corpses and eating human flesh, adding that he was still mentally fit to stand trial.
Investigators say Moninder Singh Pandher, a wealthy businessman and Mr Koli's employer, was oblivious to the serial killings happening in his own home.
"He was not aware at all of the murders going on in his house," said Mr Kumar, adding that Mr Pandher was still under investigation in connection with "one or two" of the killings.
Mr Pandher's mobile phone records showed he was not at home on most of the occasions where the killings were believed to have happened, Mr Kumar said.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21432271-38197,00.html