Editing Auto Shankar

{{Short description|Indian criminal}}
{{About||the unrelated 2005 film|Auto Shankar (film)}}
{{About||the biographical web series|Auto Shankar (web series)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox serial killer
| name              = Auto Shankar
| image             = 
| caption           = 
| alias             = 
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|df=yes|1954|1|21}}
| birth_place       = [[Kangeyanallur]], [[Vellore]], India
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1995|4|27|1954|1|21}}
| cause             = [[Execution by hanging]]
| victims           = 6
| country           = [[India]]
| states            = [[Tamil Nadu]]
| beginyear         = 1975
| endyear           = 1989
| apprehended       = 
| conviction_status = [[Executed]]
| penalty           = [[Capital punishment|Death]]
| birth_name        = Gowri Shankar
| death_place       = Salem Central Prison, [[Salem, Tamil Nadu|Salem]], [[Tamil Nadu]], India
| conviction        = [[Murder]] (6 counts)
}}

'''Gowri Shankar''' (21 January 1954 – 27 April 1995), better known as '''<nowiki/>'Auto' Shankar''', was an Indian criminal, murderer and gangster from [[Tamil Nadu]], who was active in [[Chennai]] throughout the 1970s and 1980s.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|last1=Thomas|first1=K.M.|title=The mass murderer of Madras|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EoZlAAAAIBAJ&dq=auto%20shankar&pg=1032%2C3469058|access-date=2 January 2013|agency=[[The Indian Express]]|date=9 September 1990}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Auto Shankar, two others sentenced to death|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PIxlAAAAIBAJ&pg=817%2C2582855|access-date=2 January 2013|agency=[[The Indian Express]]|date=1 June 1991}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Veerappan's widow pleads against telecast of serial|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/veerappans-widow-pleads-against-telecast-of-serial/509923|access-date=2020-12-28|website=outlookindia.com}}</ref>

== Early and personal life ==
Shankar was born in Kangeyanallur, [[Vellore]]. While he was in Pre-University College,{{clarify|reason=what is this?|date=March 2023}} his father left the family for [[Odisha]]. In the early 1970s, he came to Chennai, first living in a [[Mylapore]] slum before moving to the fast-developing area of [[Thiruvanmiyur]] on the outskirts of South Chennai.<ref name=":0" /> Shankar had several wives. He married his first wife, Jagadeeswari, early in his criminal career and had 4 children with her. The marriage ended due to her suicide by [[self-immolation]]. His third wife, Lalitha, was a performer at a cabaret club he frequented.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-04-19|title=Auto Shankar's Reign of Terror: The incomplete story of the man who shook Madras|url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/auto-shankar-s-reign-terror-incomplete-story-man-who-shook-madras-100298|access-date=2020-12-28|website=The News Minute|language=en}}</ref>

== Career ==
He survived by peddling cycle rickshaws, and later began to operate an [[auto rickshaw]], from which he got his nickname. 

At the time, the area was a criminal hotbed and Shankar began transporting illegal liquor (prohibition being in force at the time), and Shankar soon realised that [[prostitution]] was more profitable with lower risks, due to its association with politically influential people [[Corruption in India|who could keep the police in check]]. His gang eliminated rivals either through the police force or through murder. An incident in which a rival gangster named Babu was murdered in the early 1980s, and which was ultimately covered up led Shankar to focus more on prostitution.<ref name=":0" />

Shankar's third wife, Lalitha, ran off with a pimp and Shankar's friend, Sudalaimuthu, and started their own outfit in the sex trade. An enraged Shankar planned his revenge by pretending to reconcile with the two through mutual friends. One night in October 1987, he invited her to one of his places in Periyar Nagar, then killed and buried her. He then rented the house to an old widow for Rs. 150. Shankar told Sudalai that Lalitha was on an all-India tour with a VIP, and two months later invited him for dinner. Shankar loaded Sudalai with liquor, strangled him, burned his body, and dumped his ashes in the sea. He then had the house renovated and explained away the burn marks by claiming they were roasted meat. When Sudalai's friend Ravi confronted Shankar, Shankar killed him and buried him outside his Periyar Nagar plot. He claimed the burial was of illegal arrack that he was hiding from an upcoming police raid, and posted a false letter to his wife claiming Ravi was in fact in Mumbai.<ref name=":0" />

By 1988, he had a multistorey house, cars, bikes, and connections that could do anything. On 29 May 1988, he and his gang were confronted by 3 members of a rival gang: Sampath, Mohan and Govindraj, who refused to pay for using his women and demanded protection money. Shankar invited them into his den, promising to pay them, and then beat them to death and buried them. At the end of June, Sampath's wife Vijaya filed a complaint with Mylapore police that her husband was missing and Shankar could be responsible. She was advised to file a complaint with Thiruvanmiyur police instead, who arrested Shankar on charges of causing a nuisance and released him. Vijaya sent a petition to the governor, who ordered the police to investigate Shankar. However, the reluctant police told Vijaya to not bother them with complaints. A distraught Vijaya turned to her journalist neighbour, who published an article implying they might have been murdered.<ref name=":0" />

==Trial==
The Inspector General ordered a special enquiry and the deaths of the three men were discovered. When they arrested Shankar and interrogated him, he confessed to the murders and to the other three murders he had committed. However, he escaped on 20 August 1990 with his five accomplices.<ref name=":0" /> Shankar's trial was held at the [[Chengalpattu]] sessions court.<ref name="Brother">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070104220706/http://www.hindu.com/2005/11/26/stories/2005112620501000.htm The Hindu :   Auto Shankar's brother gets life imprisonment]</ref> He was [[death penalty|sentenced to death]] along with two of his associates, Eldin and Shivaji, on 31 May 1991, ultimately being [[hanging|hanged]] in Salem Central Prison in 1995.

==Associates==
In 1992, Shankar's five accomplices were sentenced to six months of Rigorous Imprisonment after having been found guilty by the Chengai-Anna District Judge N. Mohandoss. The accomplices were Shankar's brother, Mohan, Selva (alias Selvaraj) and the jail wardens Kannan, Balan and Rahim Khan. They were found guilty of ''criminal conspiracy'' and ''resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension''.
Subsequently, Mohan was also found guilty of the six murders and was given three Mohan had escaped from the [[Chennai Central Prison]] in August 1990 and was captured in [[Pune]] on 25 June 1992.

==Responses==
K. Vijay Kumar, the Tamil Nadu Additional Director-General of Police, claimed that cinema was solely responsible for making  Shankar a criminal.<ref name="Vijay">[https://web.archive.org/web/20071001064918/http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/05/stories/2007030503780300.htm The Hindu : Media, police should not harm society's interests]</ref> He mentioned this during a seminar on "Crime and Media" in [[Kerala]].

The trial has become widely known across the nation since the Supreme Court invoked the American [[free speech]] doctrine and the case became oft-quoted in relation to journalistic [[investigative journalism|exposés]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040117071707/http://www.hindu.com/2003/12/12/stories/2003121201851200.htm The Hindu : Whistles, stings and slapps]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040904033130/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2001/09/07/stories/05072523.htm The Hindu : Tehelka: what next?]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20041129150303/http://www.hindu.com/2004/10/15/stories/2004101500821000.htm The Hindu : The Tehelka Commission]</ref>

==In popular culture==
* The 1990 [[Tamil language]] film ''[[Pulan Visaranai]]'' directed by [[R. K. Selvamani]] was partially inspired by Auto Shankar's crimes.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Balasubramaniam |first1=Balaji |title=Pulan Visaranai - A movie review |url=http://www.bbthots.com/reviews/rewind/pvisaaranai.html |website=Balaji's Thots}}</ref> [[Mithun Chakraborty]] and [[Shakti Kapoor]] starred in the 1995 [[Bollywood]] remake ''[[Ravan Raaj: A True Story]]''.
* A documentary television series based on his life was aired on [[Makkal TV]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=2008-07-28|title=The Radha-MGR episode|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/The-Radha-MGR-episode/article15386008.ece|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>
* ''[[Crime Patrol (TV series)|Crime Patrol]]'' aired an episode on [[Sony TV]] based on the story of Auto Shankar.<ref name="statesman">{{Cite news |url=https://www.thestatesman.com/entertainment/auto-shankar-zee5-web-series-serial-killer-gowri-shankar-premiers-23-april-1502743465.html |title=Auto Shankar: ZEE5 web series on serial killer Gowri Shankar premiers on 23 April |date=6 April 2019 |work=[[The Statesman (India)|The Statesman]] |access-date=7 April 2019}}</ref>
* [[Appani Sarath]] played Auto Shankar in the 2019 [[ZEE5]] web series ''[[Auto Shankar (web series)|Auto Shankar]]''.<ref name="statesman"/>
* This case was included as one of the cases in the bestselling book [[The Deadly Dozen: India's Most Notorious Serial Killers]] by [[Anirban Bhattacharyya]], the creator-producer of the hit TV show [[Savdhaan India]]

==See also==
*[[Charles Shobraj]]
*[[Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders]]
*[[Noida serial murders]]
*[[Raman Raghav]]
*[[Capital punishment in India]]
*[[List of serial killers by country]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shankar, Auto}}
[[Category:1954 births]]
[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century executions by India]]
[[Category:Crime in Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Criminals from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Executed Indian people]]
[[Category:Executed Indian serial killers]]
[[Category:Indian people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:Indian people convicted of rape]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by India]]
[[Category:People executed by India by hanging]]
[[Category:Uxoricides]]